Role of mtDNA Haplogroups in the Prevalence of Osteoarthritis in Different Geographic Populations: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and has become an increasingly important public-health problem. However, the pathogenesis of OA is still unclear. In recent years, its correlation with mtDNA haplogroups attracts much attention. We aimed to perform a meta-analysis to investigate the association between mtDNA haplogroups and OA. Methods: Published English or Chinese literature from PubMed, Web of Science, SDOS, and CNKI was retrieved up until April 15, 2014. Case-control or cohort studies that detected the frequency of mtDNA haplogroups in OA patients and controls were included. The quality of the included studies was evaluated by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) assessment. A meta-analysis was conducted to calculate pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) through the random or fixed effect model, which was selected based on the between-study heterogeneity assessed by Q test and I2 test. Subgroup analysis was performed to explore the origin of heterogeneity. Results: A total of 6 case-control studies (10590 cases and 7161 controls) with an average NOS score of 6.9 were involved. For the analysis between mtDNA haplogroup J and OA, random model was selected due to high heterogeneity. No significant association was found initially (OR = 0.73, 95%CI: 0.52–1.03), however, once any study from UK population was removed the association emerged. Further subgroup analysis demonstrated that there was a significant association in Spain population (OR = 0.57, 95%CI: 0.46–0.71), but not in UK population. Also, subgroup analysis revealed that there was a significant correlation between cluster TJ and OA in Spain population (OR = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.58–0.84), although not in UK population. No significant correlation was found between haplogroup T/cluster HV/cluster KU and OA. Conclusions: Our current meta-analysis suggests that mtDNA haplogroup J and cluster TJ correlate with the risk of OA in Spanish population, but the associations in other populations require further investigation.