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. 2025 Apr 12;15(1):12540.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-97756-z.

Osteoarthritis is a risk factor for renal function injury based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and Mendelian Randomized study

Liang Pang  1 , Kai Wu  1 , Yibo Zhu  1 , Qianwei Wang  2 , Zhihui Zheng  1 , Cunxian Lv  1 , Zhancheng Bao  3
Affiliations

Osteoarthritis is a risk factor for renal function injury based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and Mendelian Randomized study

Liang Pang et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the association and causality between osteoarthritis (OA) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis. Participants with OA, urinary albumin, urinary creatinine, urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR), blood creatinine, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were selected from NHANES. CKD was calculated using the CKD-EPI equation, and logistic regression assessed by the OA-CKD association. A two-sample MR analysis was conducted using Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data for OA, hip OA (HOA), knee OA (KOA), acute renal failure (ARF), chronic renal failure (CRF), cystatin C, serum creatinine (eGFRcrea), and microalbuminuria. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used, with heterogeneity, sensitivity, and pleiotropy assessments. The cross-sectional analysis showed a significant positive association between OA and CKD [unadjusted OR: 2.398 (95% CI: 2.176-2.643), p < 0.001], which persisted after adjustment for demographic factors, socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors, and medical history [adjusted OR: 1.161 (95% CI: 1.029-1.310), p = 0.015]. The MR analysis revealed no significant causal relationship between overall OA and renal function markers but found a significant genetic association between HOA and cystatin C [IVW p = 0.0014, OR = 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01-1.03], and between KOA and cystatin C [IVW p < 0.0001, OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.04-1.08]. Our study indicates that HOA and KOA are risk factors for renal function injury, providing new insights for clinical OA management.

Keywords: Causality; Chronic kidney disease; MR; NHANES; Osteoarthritis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Moral declaration: Data from the NHANES database and the GAW database were used in this study. The NHANES data were collected in accordance with U.S. federal regulations and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ethical guidelines, and all participants provided informed consent. The GAW data were used in accordance with the appropriate data use protocols and privacy protections. The analysis of this study involved only de-identified data, ensuring participant privacy and data confidentiality. Institutional review board statement: This study used summary data published by multiple GWAS; the review board statement can be found in the original work. Informed Consent Statement: Patient consent was obtained by corresponding studies, which have been cited in the manuscript.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of NHANCES in our study.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Flowchart of Mendelian randomization in our study.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
MR estimates derived from each method of assessing the causal effect of OA on renal function indices.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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