Obesity linked to rapid loss of knee cartilage
|
|
Obesity is strongly associated with an increased risk of rapid loss of cushioning cartilage in the knee in people at risk for osteoarthritis or with early signs of the disease, researchers have found.
In osteoarthritis—the most common form of arthritis—the cartilage breaks down and, in severe cases, can completely wear away, leaving the joint without a cushion. The bones rub together, causing further damage, as well as pain and loss of mobility.
“Osteoarthritis is a slowly progressive disorder, but a minority of patients with hardly any osteoarthritis at first diagnosis exhibit fast disease progression,” Dr. Frank W. Roemer from Boston University Medical Center noted in a statement.
He and colleagues set out to identify risk factors that might predict rapid cartilage loss in patients with early knee osteoarthritis or at high risk for the disease.
Over 30 months, Roemer and colleagues tracked the health of 347 knees of 366 patients whose average age was 61 years. Only knees with minimal or no cartilage damage at the start of the study were included.
Of the 347 knees, 20.2 percent exhibited slow cartilage loss over 30 months and 5.8 percent showed rapid cartilage loss.
According to the investigators, being overweight or obese was significantly associated with an increased risk of rapid cartilage loss. For a one-unit increase in body mass index, the odds of rapid cartilage loss increased by 11 percent.
“As obesity is one of the few established risk factors for osteoarthritis, it is not surprising that obesity may also precede and predict rapid cartilage loss,” Roemer said.
“Weight loss is probably the most important factor to slow disease progression,” he added.
SOURCE: Radiology, August 2009.
Print Version
Tell-a-Friend comments powered by Disqus
