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Knee osteoarthritis (OA) and risk of medically treated injurious falls among older adults considering the health ABC study

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Created On: 18/01/2020

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) and risk of medically treated injurious falls among older adults considering the health ABC study

Previous research has shown the risk of falls in patients with knee OA.

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Key take away

The OA and the risk of medically treated injurious falls (hence injurious falls) were investigated in older adults. There was an independent connection between the knee symptomatic radiographic osteoarthritis (sROA) and an increased risk of injurious falls in older men but, was not observed in older women.

Background

Previous research has shown the risk of falls in patients with knee OA. However, there is lack of data estimating knee OA and the risk of medically treated injurious falls (overall and by sex).

Method

This community‐based study was based on the Health ABC Knee Osteoarthritis Substudy. White and black older adults were included in the study. The relationship between risk of injurious falls and knee OA status was estimated in a total of 734 participants with a mean age of 74.7 years. Kellgren‐Lawrence grade of ≥2 in at least one knee was described as Radiographic knee osteoarthritis (ROA) . When same knee has both ROA and symptoms of pain, it is regarded as knee symptomatic ROA (sROA). The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (Cis) were assessed using the Cox regression modeling.

Result

Two fifty-five (34.7%) individuals out of the total 734 individuals faced an occasional injurious fall over the whole study period. Mean (SD) follow‐up time of the study was 6.59 (3.12) years. Multivariate model depicted no significantly increased risk in sROA patients (HR=1.09; 95% CI: 0.73, 1.65) as compared to the patients without ROA or pain. The men with sROA (HR=2.57; 95% CI: 1.12, 5.91) had a considerably increased risk of injurious falls in comparison to men without ROA or pain. There were no associations for women or by detrimental fall type.