Is osteoarthritis a true connective tissue disorder or merely shared degeneration over time?

Is osteoarthritis a true connective tissue disorder or merely shared degeneration over time?
OA is a chronic degenerative disorder related to but not caused by aging, as here are people very well into their nineties who have no clinical or functional signs of the disease. As a character ages, the water content of the cartilage decrease due to a reduced proteoglycan content, thus causing the cartilage to be smaller quantity resilient. Without the protective effects of the proteoglycans, the collagen fibers of the cartilage can become susceptible to degradation and thus exacerbate the degeneration. Inflammation of the surrounding amalgamated capsule can also transpire, though often mild (compared to that which occur in rheumatoid arthritis). This can come up as breakdown products from the cartilage are released into the synovial space, and the cells bin liner the joint attempt to remove them. New bone outgrowths, call "spurs" or osteophytes, can form on the margins of the joints, possibly surrounded by an attempt to improve the congruence of the articular cartilage surfaces. These bone change, together with the inflammation, can be both rough and debilitating.
So it a combination of them both, beside the loss of the cartilage leading to the degeneration of the joint over time.
Wear and tear on a amalgamated with aging.