Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38755685›Full record

ArticleJournal of translational medicine2024

Osteoarthritis patients exhibit an autonomic dysfunction with indirect sympathetic dominance.

Rebecca Sohn, Tina Assar, Isabelle Kaufhold, Marco Brenneis, Sebastian Braun, Marius Junker, Frank Zaucke, Georg Pongratz, Zsuzsa Jenei-Lanzl

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of translational medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Relationship between cerebral white matter hyperintensities and autonomic function in older individuals with cerebral small vessel disease.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2026
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Rebecca SohnDr. Rolf M. Schwiete Research Unit for Osteoarthritis, Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, Goethe University Frankfurt, University Hospital, Marienburgstr. 2, 60528, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany.ORCID 0009-0003-1299-8699
Tina AssarDr. Rolf M. Schwiete Research Unit for Osteoarthritis, Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, Goethe University Frankfurt, University Hospital, Marienburgstr. 2, 60528, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany.
Isabelle KaufholdDr. Rolf M. Schwiete Research Unit for Osteoarthritis, Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, Goethe University Frankfurt, University Hospital, Marienburgstr. 2, 60528, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany.
Marco BrenneisDepartment of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, Goethe University Frankfurt, University Hospital, 60528, Frankfurt, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7811-7493
Sebastian BraunDepartment of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, Goethe University Frankfurt, University Hospital, 60528, Frankfurt, Germany.
Marius JunkerDepartment of Orthopedics, Tabea Hospital Hamburg, 22587, Hamburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7472-275X
Frank ZauckeDr. Rolf M. Schwiete Research Unit for Osteoarthritis, Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, Goethe University Frankfurt, University Hospital, Marienburgstr. 2, 60528, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7680-9354
Georg PongratzDivision of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, St. John of God Hospital, Regensburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2185-8458
Zsuzsa Jenei-LanzlDr. Rolf M. Schwiete Research Unit for Osteoarthritis, Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, Goethe University Frankfurt, University Hospital, Marienburgstr. 2, 60528, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany. jenei-lanzl@med.uni-frankfurt.de.ORCID 0000-0003-2586-2523

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOsteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease causing limited mobility and pain, with no curative treatment available. Recent in vivo studies suggested autonomic alterations during OA progression in patients, yet clinical evidence is scarce. Therefore, autonomic tone was analyzed in OA patients via heart rate variability (HRV) measurements.

methodsTime-domain (SDRR, RMSSD, pRR50) and frequency-domain (LF, HF, LF/HF) HRV indices were determined to quantify sympathetic and parasympathetic activities. In addition, perceived stress, WOMAC pain as well as serum catecholamines, cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEA-S) were analyzed. The impact of the grade of disease (GoD) was evaluated by linear regression analysis and correlations with clinical data were performed.

resultsGoD significantly impacted the autonomic tone in OA patients. All time-domain parameters reflected slightly decreased HRV in early OA patients and significantly reduced HRV in late OA patients. Moreover, frequency-domain analysis revealed decreased HF and LF power in all OA patients, reflecting diminished parasympathetic and sympathetic activities. However, LF/HF ratio was significantly higher in early OA patients compared to late OA patients and implied a clear sympathetic dominance. Furthermore, OA patients perceived significantly higher chronic stress and WOMAC pain levels compared to healthy controls. Serum cortisol and cortisol/DHEA-S ratio significantly increased with GoD and positively correlated with WOMAC pain. In contrast, serum catecholamines only trended to increase with GoD and pain level.

conclusionsThis prospective study provides compelling evidence of an autonomic dysfunction with indirect sympathetic dominance in early and late knee OA patients for the first time based on HRV analyses and further confirmed by serum stress hormone measurements. Increased sympathetic activity and chronic low-grade inflammation in OA as well as in its major comorbidities reinforce each other and might therefore create a vicious cycle. The observed autonomic alterations coupled with increased stress and pain levels highlight the potential of HRV as a prognostic marker. In addition, modulation of autonomic activity represents an attractive future therapeutic option.

Indexed as

Heart RateOsteoarthritisSympathetic Nervous SystemAgedFemaleHumansHydrocortisoneMaleMiddle AgedPainHydrocortisoneAutonomic dysfunctionChronic stressHeart rate variabilityOsteoarthritisPainParasympathetic activitySympathetic activity

Identifiers

PMID38755685
PMCPMC11100157

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.