Association Between Pain at Sites Outside the Knee and Knee Cartilage Volume Loss in Elderly People Without Knee Osteoarthritis: A Prospective Study

Multiple intra-articular injections of autologous stromal vascular fractions for the treatment of multicompartmental osteoarthritis in both the tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joint: a single-blind randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND

Multicompartmental osteoarthritis (MOA) in both tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joints is a more commonly occurring, but neglected, clinical condition, and we examined the short-term safety and efficacy of autologous stromal vascular fractions (SVFs) for MOA using a single-blind, prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

METHODS

Seventy MOA patients were recruited and randomly assigned to the SVF group and hyaluronic acid (HA) group (control group). The scores of visual analog scale, the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index, and the Samsung Medical Center patellofemoral scoring system were assessed and compared between the two groups 3, 6 and 12 months after treatment.

RESULTS

The SVF group had significantly better visual analog scale scores than the HA group at 6 and 12 months after treatment and had better Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index scores than the HA group only at 6 months after treatment. For Samsung Medical Center patellofemoral scoring system of the patellofemoral joint, the SVF group had significantly better scores than the control group at all postoperative time points. The proportion of patients whose visual analog scale and Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index scores were above the minimal clinically important improvement was higher in the SVF group than in the HA group in the majority of assessments. The improvement of bone marrow by SVF treatment was significantly better than that of the HA group as observed by pre- and postoperative Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple intra-articular injection of autologous SVF reduces pain and improves function in the short term in patients with early or midstage MOA. However, there was heterogeneity in the improvement of overall knee and isolated patellofemoral joint after treatment.

Gender differences in the associations between knee pain and urinary incontinence in older adults: Cross-sectional analysis from the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Research Study (MELoR)

INTRODUCTION

The common assumption that urinary incontinence occurs in osteoarthritis (OA) due to poor mobility is supported by limited evidence. The influence of gender in such associations is also yet to be elucidated.

OBJECTIVE

This study, therefore, identified any potential associations between knee OA symptoms and urinary incontinence and further explore sex differences in the associations.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

University Hospital.

PARTICIPANTS

This was a cross-sectional study from a longitudinal research study comprising 1221 community-dwelling older persons (57% women), mean age (SD) 68.95 (7.49) years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)

Presence of urinary incontinence: mixed, stress and urge symptoms. Physical performance and C-reactive protein levels were also assessed.

RESULTS

Two hundred and seventy-seven (22.83%) individuals reported the presence of urinary incontinence: mixed (41.5%), stress (30%), and urge (28.5%) symptoms. In an unadjusted analysis, stratified by gender, the association between knee pain and urinary incontinence was only present in women with mixed symptoms. After further adjustment of demographics differences and body mass index, the association between knee pain with any urinary incontinence and mixed symptoms remained significant with the odds ratios (95% confidence interval): 1.48 (1.02-2.15) and 1.73 (1.06-2.83), respectively. This relationship was attenuated after further adjustment for waist circumference and impaired lower limb mobility.

CONCLUSION

Our study refutes previous assumptions that urinary incontinence in individuals with OA is attributed to impaired mobility alone, but introduces the role of abdominal obesity in this relationship, particularly in women. Future studies should assess the temporal relationship between body fat distribution and OA with urinary incontinence.

Tenderness of the knee is associated with thinning of the articular cartilage evaluated with ultrasonography in a community-based cohort: The Nagahama study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to elucidate the association between joint line tenderness (JLT) of the knee and knee joint structural changes evaluated with ultrasonography (US) for the early diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis (KOA).

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 121 participants (age 71.7 ± 5.8 years, 75 women) from a community-based population. Bilateral structural changes in the knee joint were evaluated with US, and the presence or absence of JLT was evaluated using a pressure algometer. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the odds ratios (ORs) of US findings for the presence of JLT. Moreover, when the analysis was limited to knees with pre-/early radiographic KOA, the ORs were also calculated using logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Among the 242 knees, 38 had medial JLT, which was significantly associated with female sex (OR 11.87) and loss of cartilage thickness of the distal medial femoral condyle (CTh-MFC) (OR 0.12). Among 96 knees with Kellgren-Lawrence grade ≤ 2, 18 knees had medial JLT, which was also significantly associated with loss of CTh-MFC (OR 0.07) and medial osteophytes (OR 2.01).

CONCLUSIONS

JLT is significantly associated with thinning of the femoral cartilage and larger osteophytes in elderly patients, even in those with pre-/early radiographic KOA.

Differentiating knee pain phenotypes in older adults: a prospective cohort study

Objective

To identify and validate knee pain phenotypes in an older population across different pain-related domains over 10.7 years.

Methods

A total of 963 participants (mean age 63 years) from a population-based older adult cohort study were studied at baseline and followed up at 2.6 (n = 875), 5.1 (n = 768) and 10.7 years (n = 563). Baseline demographic, psychological, lifestyle and comorbidities data were obtained and MRI was performed to measure knee structural pathology. WOMAC pain and pain at multiple sites were assessed by questionnaires at each time-point. Latent class analysis was used to identify knee pain phenotypes, considering sex, BMI, emotional problems, education level, comorbidities, number of painful sites and knee structural pathology.

Results

Three pain phenotypes were identified: Class 1: high prevalence of emotional problems and low prevalence of structural damage (25%); Class 2: high prevalence of structural damage and low prevalence of emotional problems (20%); Class 3: low prevalence of emotional problems and low prevalence of structural damage (55%). Participants within Class 1 and 2 had greater BMI, more comorbidities, a higher prevalence of radiographic knee OA and knee structural pathology compared with Class 3. Furthermore, compared with Class 2 and 3, WOMAC pain and number of painful sites were consistently greater at each time-point over 10.7 years in Class 1. Results were similar when the analyses were restricted to participants with radiographic knee OA.

Conclusion

Psychological and structural factors interact with each other to exacerbate pain perception, suggesting that tailored treatment approaches for older people with knee pain in clinical practice are needed.

Low back pain precedes the development of new knee pain in the elderly population; a novel predictive score from a longitudinal cohort study

Background

To investigate the association between knee pain and risk factors including low back pain and to develop a score to predict new knee pain in an older population, using population-based longitudinal cohort data.

Methods

We collected a questionnaire on self-reported knee pain and demographic data in a systematic manner from community residents aged ≥ 50 years twice, at baseline, and after 5 years. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between knee pain and risk factors and to build a predictive model that would enable calculation of the risk of the development of knee pain within 5 years. The model is presented in the form of score charts.

Results

A total of 5932 residents aged ≥ 50 years from the cohort of 9764 that completed the first questionnaire were enrolled in the second survey. After exclusions, paired data for the two time points an average of 5.4 years apart were analyzed for 4638 participants. Multivariate analyses showed older age, female sex, higher BMI, weight increase, lower mental health score, and higher back pain/disability score were independent risk factors for knee pain. The predictive score comprised six factors: age, sex, BMI, weight increase, mental health, and low back pain/disability. The risk of developing knee pain ranged from 11.0 to 63.2% depending on the total score.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated a significant association between knee and low back pain/disability along with other risk factors. The score we developed can be used to identify a population without any imaging modality who are at high risk of developing knee pain.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13075-019-1884-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Longitudinal association between foot and ankle symptoms and worsening of symptomatic radiographic knee osteoarthritis: data from the osteoarthritis initiative

OBJECTIVE

To assess whether foot and/or ankle symptoms are associated with an increased risk of worsening of knee pain and radiographic change in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

METHODS

The presence and laterality of foot/ankle symptoms were recorded at baseline in 1368 participants from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) with symptomatic radiographic knee OA. Knee pain severity (measured using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain subscale) and minimum medial tibiofemoral joint space (minJSW) width measured on X-ray were assessed yearly over the subsequent 4 years. Associations between foot/ankle symptoms and worsening of (1) knee pain, and (2) both knee pain and minJSW (i.e., symptomatic radiographic knee OA) were assessed using logistic regression.

RESULTS

Foot/ankle symptoms in either foot/ankle significantly increased the odds of knee pain worsening (adjusted OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.91). Laterality analysis showed ipsilateral (adjusted OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.07 to 2.10), contralateral (adjusted OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.06) and bilateral foot/ankle symptoms (adjusted OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.22 to 2.13) were all associated with knee pain worsening in the follow up period. There was no association between foot/ankle symptoms and worsening of symptomatic radiographic knee OA.

CONCLUSION

The presence of foot/ankle symptoms in people with symptomatic radiographic knee OA was associated with increased risk of knee pain worsening, but not worsening of symptomatic radiographic knee OA, over the subsequent 4 years. Future studies should investigate whether treatment of foot/ankle symptoms reduces the risk of knee pain worsening in people with knee OA.