Patterns of Change Over Time in Knee Bone Shape Are Associated with Sex

Abstract

Background Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is more common in females than in males; however, the biological mechanisms for the difference in sex in patients with knee OA are not well understood. Knee shape is associated with OA and with sex, but the patterns of change in the bone's shape over time and their relation to sex and OA are unknown and may help inform how sex is associated with shape and OA and whether the effect is exerted early or later in life. Questions/purposes (1) Does knee shape segregate stably into different groups of trajectories of change (groups of knees that share similar patterns of changes in bone shape over time)? (2) Do females and males have different trajectories of bone shape changes? (3) Is radiographic OA at baseline associated with trajectories of bone shape changes? Methods We used data collected from the NIH-funded Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) to evaluate a cohort of The institution of two of the authors (BLW, NEL) has received, during the study period, funding from the NIH (UC Davis). One of the authors (JN) has received consulting fees, during the study period, of between USD 10,000 to USD 100,000, from UC Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA. Otherwise, each author certifies that neither he or she, nor any member of his or her immediate family, have funding or commercial associations (consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. Each author certifies that his or her institution waived approval for the human protocol for this investigation and that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research.

Using 3D MRI Bone Shape to Predict Pre-Osteoarthritis of the Knee 2 Years After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

“…There may be sex-related differences that affect post-ACLR bone shape and area across different knee regions in more subtle ways than can be resolved here. 41 Neither preoperative ACL deficiency exposure time nor time from surgery to follow-up MRI showed significant effects on interlimb bone differences. However, it is possible that such relationships were missed because of the relatively low power of the multivariable models, necessitating a variable reduction scheme, and the small number of participants with ACL deficiency exposure times >1 year (n = 7).…”

Three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging-based statistical shape analysis and machine learning-based prediction of patellofemoral instability

“…No significant correlation between shape factors and age was observed in this study. A previous study showed that prior to the progression of osteoarthritis, knee shape does not change significantly over time 31 . Although age-related changes may inevitably include changes associated with osteoarthritis, the current study did not include people over 50 years of age, in whom osteoarthritis often occurs; therefore, there is no need to consider this factor.…”

“…Regarding sex, several shape components showed correlations in this study; the second, eighth, and ninth principal components were significantly correlated with sex after adjusting for PFI and age. There have been several reports on sex-related changes in knee shape, which showed that compared with males, females had deepening of the intercondylar fossa, broader shaft width relative to epicondylar width, and decreased inferior protrusion of the medial and lateral condylar heads relative to the patellar groove 31 , 32 . In our study, the second and eighth principal components had overlapping correlations not only with PFI but also with sex; however, they appeared to have clearer variations in epicondylar width than the other components.…”

The instrumented sheep knee to elucidate insights into osteoarthritis development and progression: A sensitive and reproducible platform for integrated research efforts

“…Phenotyping of the animals using multiple modalities should provide significant insights and understanding that may be translated to the human condition. Of particular interest in this regard is the reported changes in shape of the human knee with age and sex differences (Li et al, 2018;Wise et al, 2020). Using a cohort from the OAI in the USA, Fig.…”