Arthritis and rheumatism
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Oct 2004
Association between spine disc degeneration and type II collagen degradation in postmenopausal women: the OFELY study.
To investigate whether radiologic spine disc degeneration is associated with increased type II collagen (CII) degradation products in the urine of postmenopausal women, independently of radiologic knee osteoarthritis (OA) and clinical hand OA. ⋯ Postmenopausal women with lumbar spine disc degeneration are characterized by increased CII degradation. The contribution of lumbar spine DSN to CII degradation was similar to, and independent of, the contribution of radiologic knee OA or clinical hand OA. Lumbar spine disc degeneration in elderly patients should be assessed when analyzing levels of CTX-II in studies of knee, hip, and hand OA.