Role of European mitochondrial DNA haplogroups in the prevalence of hip osteoarthritis in Galicia, Northern Spain.

Abstract

To analyse the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups of patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) and those of healthy controls in a Spanish population. mtDNA haplogroups were assigned to 550 cases of hip OA and 505 clinically asymptomatic controls. Sets of controls with healthy knees and hips (n = 179) and patients with knee and/or hip OA (n = 977) were also analysed in a multivariate analysis after adjusting for sex, age and smoking. Individuals carrying haplogroup J showed a significantly decreased risk of developing hip OA (OR 0.661; 95% CI 0.440 to 0.993; p = 0.045). In addition to haplogroup J, smoking protected against the development of hip OA (OR 0.543; 95% CI 0.311 to 0.946; p = 0.031). However, no relationship was found between rheumatoid arthritis and mtDNA haplogroups. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the mtDNA haplogroups have a role in the complex osteoarthritic process.