The association between frailty and osteoarthritis based on the NHANES and Mendelian randomization study

Introduction The aim of the study was to examine the association between frailty and osteoarthritis. Material and methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, while logistic regression was used to explore the association of the two. Mendelian randomization (MR) study was used to explore the causal relationship between the two. Results In the cross-sectional study, logistic regression analysis showed that odds ratio (OR) (95% CI) value was 1.07 (1.05, 1.08). In the MR study, the inverse-variance weighting (IVW) results showed OR (95% CI) value of 1.69 (1.01–2.83). Conclusions There is both a correlation and a causal relationship between frailty and osteoarthritis, and frailty may be a potentially better response than age to osteoarthritis.