There is no evidence that osteoarthritis alone decreases life span. Some studies find that people with osteoarthritis have a higher mortality rate than people of the same age but without osteoarthritis. But in these studies, osteoarthritis was often accompanied by high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and cigarette smoking -- all factors that contribute to higher mortality. The data do not allow us to tell whether these additional factors explain some or all of the greater mortality observed among people with osteoarthritis.
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