Davis JE, et al. - A total of 3519 candidates in the Osteoarthritis Initiative with complete data for baseline and 48-month radiographic hand osteoarthritis (HOA) were estimated to delineate if hand joints develop an accelerated form of osteoarthritis (OA) and also to identify the cases who develop accelerated hand osteoarthritis (AHOA). They observed that the definition of AHOA was met by 1% over 4 years with 1 joint affected in 37 hands and 2 joints affected in 1 hand. They noted subjects who developed AHOA (at baseline) with more prevalence of hand pain (37% vs 22%), radiographic HOA (71% vs 36%), as well as central (22% vs 7%) and marginal erosions (11% vs 2%) in other joints vs those without AHOA. They also found more prevalence to develop new erosions in participants with AHOA over 48 months (central 35%, marginal 5%) as compared to those without AHOA (central 5%, marginal 1%). They reported the occurrence of accelerated OA in the hand, primarily among digits generally used for pinching and fine motor skills.