To study whether gene variants associated with lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) phenotypes are also associated with hip osteoarthritis (OA).
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based hip OA changes for 345 twins were assessed and 99 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were analyzed.
Variants in the COL9A2 (rs7533552, p = 0.0025) and COL10A1 (rs568725, p = 0.002) genes showed association with hip OA.
The associating G allele in COL9A2 changes a glutamine to arginine or to tryptophan and may predispose to both hip OA and LDD, making it a candidate for degenerative connective tissue diseases.