The relationship between alcohol consumption and knee osteoarthritis in Korean population over 50 years-old: Results from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

ABSTRACT: There is still debate regarding the pathogenic relationship between alcohol intake and osteoarthritis (OA). This study investigated the association between alcohol consumption and knee OA in a Korean population.Among 8058 subjects who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2012, a total of 2917 subjects over the age of 50 and taken plain radiography was included in this analysis. Knee OA was classified based on the Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grading scale. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of variables for knee OA (K-L grade ≥ 2).There were 1022 subjects with knee OA (29.2%). Subjects with knee OA tended to have lower daily alcohol intake (g/day) than did those without knee OA (10.4 [6.2-14.6] vs. 15.8 [12.8-18.8], P = .04). Similarly, those with knee OA demonstrated less makgeolli intake than did those without knee OA (P = .002). Subjects who consumed >0.6 g/day of beer also demonstrated less knee OA than did those who consumed <0.6 g/day of beer (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.46-0.99). However, knee OA was not associated with the categories of alcohol consumption amount (g/day), including total daily alcohol intake (g/day), soju daily intake (g/day), and makgeolli daily intake (g/day) (P > .05 of all).Alcohol consumption was negatively associated with prevalence of knee OA in a Korean population. This preliminary observation will need to be confirmed in future studies.