Rare earth elements exposure and osteoarthritis in Chinese community residents: Insights from epidemiology and network toxicology analyses.

The relationship between exposure to rare earth elements (REEs) and osteoarthritis, as well as the underlying mechanism, remain unclear. In 798 Chinese community residents, the associations between urinary REEs and the risk of osteoarthritis were evaluated using logistic regression, weighted quantile sum regression, and Bayesian kernel machine regression. Network toxicology analysis was employed to propose potential mechanistic hypotheses. In single analysis, elevated urinary concentrations of praseodymium (odds ratio [OR]: 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05, 1.32), gadolinium (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.36), and ytterbium (OR: 1.14; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.26) were significantly associated with increased risk of osteoarthritis. Mixture analyses indicated that REEs mixture was positively associated with the risk of osteoarthritis. Pathway enrichment analysis indicated that calcium signal-cytoskeleton disorder may involve gadolinium related-osteoarthritis, and hypoxia-ferroptosis axis may involve ytterbium related-osteoarthritis, with key molecules like IL-6 and TFRC identified. Exposure to REEs, particularly praseodymium, gadolinium, and ytterbium, is associated with an increased risk of osteoarthritis in a Chinese community population. These findings highlight the potential role of REEs as environmental risk factors for osteoarthritis and underscore the need for further investigation into the underlying mechanisms.