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Knee pain prevalence has increased over 20 years
Nguyen U. Ann Intern Med. Dec. 6, 2011 155:786-787.
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Researchers from Boston have found that while the prevalence of knee pain has increased substantially over 20 years, this change has been mostly independent of age and body mass index. The researchers also found an increase in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis but no increase in radiographic knee osteoarthritis.
The cross-sectional study used data from six National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) surveys conducted between 1971 and 2004, as well as three examination periods in the Framingham Osteoartritis (FOA) Study between 1983 and 2005. Participants in NHANES were asked about pain in or around the knee on most days, while those patients in the FOA Study were asked about knee pain and underwent bilateral weight-bearing anteroposterior knee radiography so researchers could define symptomatic knee OA.
“The age- and [BMI]-adjusted prevalences of knee pain and osteoarthritis at later examinations were compared with that of earlier examinations by using the ratio of the prevalence estimates,” the authors wrote.
According to the study results, the age- and BMI-adjusted prevalence of knee pain as ascertained through NHANES saw a 65% increase from 1974 to 1994 among non-Hispanic white and Mexican American men and women, as well as black women. The FOA Study results indicated that age- and BMI-adjusted prevalence of knee pain and symptomatic knee OA doubled in women and tripled in men in the 20-year span. FOA Study participants demonstrated no such observable trend in radiographic knee OA.
“After age adjustment, additional adjustment for BMI resulted in a 10% to 25% decrease in the prevalence ratios for knee pain and symptomatic knee [OA],” the authors wrote.