In adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), coexisting joint disease may influence the ability to achieve recommended glycemic targets. In Arthritis Care & Research, a cross-sectional observational study examined the association between symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and glycemic control in adults with T2DM. The analysis included 351 individuals aged 45 years or older recruited from three academic centres in Canada. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) was defined using National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical criteria. Target glycemic control was defined as a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) value of 7.0% or lower.

Overall, 28.5% of participants met criteria for knee OA, and 43.9% achieved target glycemic control. In unadjusted analyses, knee OA was associated with lower odds of achieving HbA1c ≤7.0% (odds ratio [OR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37-0.97). After adjustment for age, gender, education level, and body mass index (BMI), this association was no longer statistically significant (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.39-1.08). In secondary analyses, knee OA with pain severity of 20 or higher on a 100-point scale was associated with significantly lower adjusted odds of target glycemic control (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.34-0.99).

In adults with T2DM, painful knee osteoarthritis was associated with lower likelihood of achieving target glycemic control.