Background:Overweight is a major risk factor for the development and progression of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Weight loss for patients with knee OA has been associated with improvement in self-reported pain and function and is recommended by EULAR as part of the therapeutic management.Objectives:The aim of the study was to evaluate the relation between overweight and functional impairment in adults with knee OA.Methods:It was a prospective study conducted in a rheumatologic department over a 4 months period. Patients with symptomatic knee OA based on the ACR criteria, were included. A screening of body mass index (BMI) was carried out for all patients. It was categorized following the WHO classification into: normal (<25 kg/m2), overweight (25 to <30), obese (up to 30).Pain level was evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Function was assessed by the short form of the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS-PS) (KOOS-PS scores to 0 representing no difficulty and 100 representing extreme difficulty). The patients’ knee radiographies were graded according to Kellgren Lawrence criteria (KL). The patients were allocated in two groups; as grade I-II KL (Group 1) and grade III-IV KL (Group 2).Results:We included 143 patients with a mean age of 65.17± 10.7 years and 88.1% of women. Patients were from low socio-economic class in 30.8% of cases. Mean disease duration of the KOA was 5.4 years [3months-20 years] and mean BMI was 31.8±5.6kg/m2. Patients were with normal weight in 16.1%, overweight in 19.6% and obese in 64.3%.Knee OA was bilateral in 85.3% and other OA sites were associated in 37.8% of patients. Mean VAS pain of knee OA was 6.6±1.5 and KOOS-PS was 48.8±16.5/100. Concerning the radiographic damage; we found grade I-II (KL) in 22.6% and grade III-IV (KL) in 77.4%.High BMI (BMI≥25 kg/m2was not significantly associated with worse KOOS score (p=0.9), more pain (p=0.5) or an increasing severity of radiological knee osteoarthritis (p=0.14). Moreover, the level BMI was not associated with the presence of other OA sites (p=0.9) or a bilateral KOA (p=0.07).Conclusion:These data, from a subset of participants with symptomatic radiographic knee OA, demonstrate no correlation between obesity and pain, functional impairment and radiographic severity.Acknowledgments:noneDisclosure of Interests:None declared
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.