Episodic/Chronic Alcohol Consumption and Hip Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Background: Hip joint osteoarthritis remains an incurable disabling health condition.

Aim: This report aimed to examine what trends exist in the realm of episodic or excess alcohol consumption in the pathology and management of disabling hip joint osteoarthritis and to thereby offer some guiding thoughts to practitioners, public health experts, and researchers.

Methods: An in-depth literature review focusing on hip joint osteoarthritis, a common site for primary and secondary forms of the disease was sought and selected for review if an alcohol-oriented focus was evidenced.

Results: There are fairly substantive attempts to explore alcohol as an outcome, as well as using this attribute as a hip osteoarthritis covariate in clinical studies, but the diverse observations, the failure to examine acute alcohol versus chronic alcohol effects, and extremely discordant conclusions prevail.

Conclusion: Future expanded research efforts are needed to elucidate to what degree alcohol use or abuse should not be neglected in hip osteoarthritis care and preventive paradigms.