Osteoarthritis Across Joint Sites in the Million Veteran Program Cohort: Insights From Electronic Health Records and Military Service History
Objective To characterize the relationship between the frequency of idiopathic osteoarthritis (OA) and characteristics including demographics, comorbidities, military service history, and physical health in a veteran population. Methods We performed a cohort study in the Million Veteran Program (MVP) using International Classification of Diseases, 9th and 10th revision codes to define the frequency of site-specific OA across 3 joints or unspecified OA in veterans with respect to demographics (eg, age, sex, race and ethnicity), military service data, detailed electronic health records, military branch, and war era. Results We validated previous reports of sex- and age-dependent differences in OA frequency, and we identified that unspecified OA was associated with a higher frequency of 16 Deyo-Charlson comorbidities. These associations generally persisted within each isolated joint site–specific OA. Depending on military branch, prior military engagement was differentially associated wit
