Osteoarthritis could nearly triple a person’s risk of developing a multitude of other chronic illnesses, a two-decade long study finds.

Those with osteoarthritis (OA) tend to develop multiple chronic illnesses as the years progress, researchers found.

These include heart disease, diabetes, mood disorders, cancer and diseases of the kidneys, liver, lungs and other organs, according to a report in the journal RMD Open.

“Our findings suggest that individuals with OA face an almost threefold higher risk of developing severe multi-morbidity,” concluded the research team led by Associate Professor Andrea Dell’isola, at Lund University in Sweden.