The effect of weight loss on the risk of knee osteoarthritis and potential modification by biochemical factors: data

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a major public health problem and weight loss is one of the only treatments that has a positive effect. Researchers from Monash University (Flavia Cicuttini, Andrew Forbes, John Dixon and Anita Wluka) and Melbourne University (Kim Bennell) collected data measuring the effect of obesity on knee joints using selected people who were scheduled to have gastric banding surgery where weight loss was expected to be large. Questionnaires were conducted regarding the general health of 250 patients before gastric banding and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the knees and Dexa x-ray scans of body composition were completed. The MRI's and body composition scans were repeated again at two years following surgery. The images were compared and data collated to measure the effect of losing weight on change in knee structure over two years. Resulting data supports the suggestion that weight-loss aimed at reducing fat mass but maintaining muscle mass may be important in preventing the onset and/or progression of knee osteoarthritis.