Are diabetes and arthritis linked?

We can talk a little bit about diabetes and arthritis.  And though diabetes does not necessarily cause arthritis, many patients with arthritis also have diabetes.  The most important thing as a joint surgeon that we consider is whether the patient’s diabetes is under control before we can consider them for joint replacement.  The way we evaluate whether the patient’s diabetes is under control, is by measuring their hemoglobin A1C.  The hemoglobin A1C is a measure of the patient’s long-term glucose level and diabetic control.  If the hemoglobin A1C is too high above 8 as a rough cut off, there is a higher risk of complications from surgery including infection, blood clot, et cetera.  So in general, we would like to see the patient’s hemoglobin A1C below 8 at a minimum before we can consider them for joint replacement.