Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2013 | Research article
Reference intervals of serum hyaluronic acid corresponding to the radiographic severity of knee osteoarthritis in women
Published in: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders | Issue 1/2013
Login to get accessAbstract
Backgroud
While serum levels of hyarulonic acid (sHA) is known to be useful for a burden of disease biomarker in knee OA, it is far from practical. The reference intervals must be established for biomarkers to be useful for clinical interpretation. The aim of this study was to establish the reference intervals of sHA corresponding to the radiographic severity of knee OA for elucidating whether sHA can be useful as a burden of disease marker for individual patient with knee OA.
Methods
372 women with Kellgren & Lawrence grade (K/L) 1 through 4 painful knee OA were enrolled in this study. The patients included 54 with K/L 1, 96 with K/L 2, 97 with K/L 3, and 118 with K/L 4. Serum samples were obtained from all subjects on the day that radiographs taken. A HA binding protein based latex agglutination assay that employed an ELISA format was used to measure sHA. Age and BMI adjusted one way ANOVA was used to set the reference intervals of sHA.
Results
The reference intervals for sHA corresponding to the patients with K/L 4 (49.6 – 66.5 ng/ml) was established without any overlap against to those with K/L 1, 2 and 3, while those with K/L 1, 2 and 3 showed considerable overlap.
Conclusions
These results indicate that sHA can be available as a burden of disease marker for the individuals with severe knee OA (K/L 4), while it is not for those with primary to moderate knee OA (K/L 1–3).