Objective To investigate whether osteoarthritis (OA) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD); whether there are differences concerning ischaemic heart disease (IHD), congestive heart failure (CHF) and stroke; and whether there are differences between OA sites (hips, knees and hand) in predicting CVD onset. Design Population-based matched case–control study. Setting Health insurance claims data among Japanese patients. Participants Japanese patients aged ≥65 years with newly diagnosed CVD and hospitalised between January 2015 and December 2020 (cases) and age-matched and sex-matched 1:1 individuals (controls). Main outcome measures A conditional logistic regression model was used to estimate the adjusted ORs and their 95% CIs for CVD, IHD, CHF and stroke risk, adjusting for covariates. Results A total of 79 296 patients were included, with respect to CVD (39 648 patients with newly diagnosed CVD and 39 648 controls). After adjustment for covariates, the exposure odds of knee OA (KOA), hip OA (HipOA) and hand OA (HandOA) for CVD were 1.192 (95% CI 1.115 to 1.274), 1.057 (95% CI 0.919 to 1.215) and 1.035 (95% CI 0.684 to 1.566), respectively, showing an association only for KOA. The exposure odds of KOA, HipOA and HandOA for IHD were 1.187 (95% CI 1.086 to 1.297), 1.078 (95% CI 0.891 to 1.306) and 1.099 (95% CI 0.677 to 1.784), respectively. The exposure odds of KOA, HipOA and HandOA for stroke were 1.221 (95% CI 1.099 to 1.356), 0.918 (95% CI 0.723 to 1.165) and 1.169 (95% CI 0.635 to 2.151), respectively. Similar to CVD, only KOA was associated with both. For CHF, neither KOA nor HipOA and HandOA were associated with CHF development. Conclusion This study confirms the association of KOA with CVD, particularly IHD and stroke, in the Japanese population. The finding that patients with KOA have a higher CVD risk can potentially assist in guiding future treatment strategies.
Abstract Both microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si) and epitaxial silicon (epi-Si) have been prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition from SiF4 with the assistance of atomie hydrogen. Precursors of the form SiF n H m (n + m = 3) were made as a result of successive reduction of fluorinated fragments SiF n (n≤3) with atomie hydrogen in the gas phase. Either μe-Si or epi-Si was grown at a deposition rate of 10 å s−1 or more from these precursors by selecting conditions of atomie hydrogen flow rate and substrate temperature Ts. The appropriate condition for growing crystals with large grains including epi-Si is distinguished from that for making μc-Si where the formation of nuclei is dominant. An attempt was made to control the surface reactions by adding the species SiH n and atomie hydrogen for the purpose of modulating the silicon network.
