Three cross-sectional studies (n=5,587) and two case-control studies (n=1,819) examined the relationship between ERT and large joint OA.
Three case control studies (n=1,069), one cross-sectional study (n=475) and one cohort study (n=415) examined the relationship between ERT and OA requiring arthroplasty.
Three cross-sectional studies (n=1,546) and one nested case-control study (n=60 pairs) examined the relationship between ERT and hand OA.
Two cohort studies (n=646) and one nested case-control study (n=60 pairs) examined the relationship between ERT and incident radiographic joint OA.
One cohort study assessed the effect of ERT on articular cartilage. The number of participants was not reported.
Relationship between ERT and the prevalence of large joint OA: two of three cross-sectional studies reported an association between ERT use and reduced radiographic knee OA (OR for current versus never users 0.31, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.93; based on one study) and radiographic hip OA (OR for users versus nonusers 0.62, 95% CI: 0.49, 0.86; based on one study). The other study found no significant association between ERT and radiographic knee OA.
Relationship between ERT and large joint OA: two case-control studies reported no statistically significant association between ERT use and large joint symptomatic and radiographic OA.
Relationship between ERT and OA requiring arthroplasty: two case-control studies, one cross-sectional study and one cohort study reported no statistically significant association between ERT use and large joint symptomatic and radiographic OA. One case-control study reported a borderline statistically significant association between end-stage hip OA and ERT use (OR 0.7, 95% CI: 0.5, 1.0).
Relationship between ERT and hand OA: three cross-sectional studies and one case-control study reported no statistically significant association between ERT use and hand OA.
Relationship between ERT and incident radiographic joint OA: two cohort studies (follow-up 4 and 8 years) reported no statistically significant association between ERT use and incident radiographic OA.
Effect of ERT on articular cartilage: a cohort of postmenopausal women who had received ERT for more than 5 years was followed over a 2-year period. Women taking ERT for more than 5 years were found to have more articular tibial cartilage (8%) than women who had never taken ERT, independent of age, bone size, years since menopause, age of menopause, body mass index and physical activity. However, no effect was seen on patellar cartilage or on change in cartilage volume, but the study had a very small sample size.