Varus and steep medial posterior tibial slope are risk factors for degenerative medial meniscus lesions

Abstract

Degenerative medial meniscus lesions(DMMLs) is different from other meniscus injuries, which have a high incidence and easy to miss diagnosis in the middle-aged and elderly. The present study was designed to identify the risk factors for DMMLs among an Asian sample. The experimental group included 121 patients（ones partly confirmed during arthroscopic surgery) with DMMLs and the control group included 51 patients with no pathological changes identified by using 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from January 2017 to January 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. By full-length anteroposterior radiographs of lower limbs in weight-bearing position of the two groups, the Hip-Knee-Ankle (HKA) angle in the coronal plane and the Medial Posterior Tibial Slope(MPTS) in the sagittal plane were measured by the MRI T1 sequence of the knee. The potential risk factors of DMMLs were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. The independent variables included gender, age, body mass index (BMI), occupational kneeling, Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grade, HKA, and MPTS. T-test analysis between the Experimental Group and the Control Group showed statistically significant differences in age (t=10.718, p<0.001), BMI (t=7.300, p<0.001), HKA (t=8.677, p<0.001), and MPTS (t=5.025, p<0.001). Chi-square test analysis between the two groups showed no statistically significant differences in gender (t=0.183, p=0.669) and occupational kneeling (t=0.339, p=0.560). Non-parametric analysis showed statistically significant differences in K-L (z=5.857, p<0.001) between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that age, BMI, HKA, and MPTS were risk factors for DMMLs among the above-mentioned variables with statistically significant differences. Varus, steep MPTS, advancing age and obesity were risk factors for DMMLs.