Radiographic OA severity helps predict knee pain onset

Knee radiographs can be used to identify individuals at increased risk for the development of knee osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms, suggests a study.

A total of 5,653 knees from 3,407 participants of the Osteoarthritis Initiative without frequent symptoms at the baseline visit were included in the analysis. The authors obtained posteroanterior semiflexed knee radiographs at the baseline visit and scored these for Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade (0‒4).

Self-reports at baseline, month 12, and month 48 follow-up visits were used to define frequent knee OA symptoms. Finally, the association between baseline KL grade and incident frequent symptoms at 12 and 48 months were examined via knee-based logistic regression using generalized estimating equations to account for correlation between knees within an individual.

At 12 months, the incidence of frequent symptoms by baseline KL grades were 12.4 percent with KL 0, 15.6 percent with KL 1, 18.6 percent with KL 2, 24.7 percent with KL 3, and 37.2 percent with KL 4.

Compared with KL 0, a greater likelihood of frequent knee symptoms at 12 months was noted for KL 1 (odds ratio [OR], 1.30, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.05‒1.61), KL 2 (OR, 1.61, 95 percent CI, 1.32‒1.96), KL 3 (OR, 2.31, 95 percent CI, 1.82‒2.92), and KL 4 (OR, 4.18, 95 percent CI, 2.69‒6.48). Similar results were seen at 48 months.

“Radiographic OA severity should be considered a potential prognostic biomarker to identify individuals at high risk of developing knee symptoms,” the authors said.