Assessment of vitamin E status among patients with newly diagnosed primary knee osteoarthritis in Cameroon.

To determine vitamin E status of patients newly diagnosed with KOA in Yaoundé (Cameroon). An analytical cross-sectional pilot study involving people aged ≥ 40 years, separated into two groups: participants with primary KOA diagnosed based on clinical and radiological elements in accordance with American Rheumatism Association 1986 criteria, and participants without KOA. All participants had a serum alpha-tocopherol assay. Factors associated with vitamin E deficit (˂ 250 µmol/100 mL) were identified in multivariate analysis using logistic regression and present with odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval. Vitamin E levels were compared according to the Kellgren & Lawrence radiological stage using Kruskal–Wallis’ test. The significance threshold was less than 0.05. The sample comprised 159 participants, aged 53.8 ± 10 years, 67.3% females and 52.8% with primary KOA. Vitamin E deficit was observed in 97.6% participants with KOA and 21.3% without KOA (p < 0.001). It was independently associated with an age ≥ 55 years (OR: 4.2 [1.43; 11.2], p = 0.01), and a frequent vitamin E-rich food consumption (OR: 0.05 [0.003; 0.09], p < 0.001). Vitamin E was significantly lower in participants with KOA comparing with those without (52.2 ± 71.4 versus 452.4 ± 230 µmol/mL, p ˂ 0.001). There was no association between vitamin E levels and Lequesne’s algofunctional index, in contrast to the radiological stage, where a significant decline in vitamin E was observed as the radiological stage progressed. With this high frequency of vitamin E deficiency strongly associated with the radiographic stage of primary KOA, future studies should evaluate its therapeutic implications specifically in this population.