Physical Activity Not Tied to Development of Knee Osteoarthritis

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Time spent in recreational physical activity is not associated with an increased risk for incident knee osteoarthritis, according to a study published online Nov. 3 in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Lucy S. Gates, Ph.D., from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated the effect of physical activity on the risk for developing knee osteoarthritis. The analysis included 5,065 individuals (aged older than 45 years) from six global, community-based cohorts followed for five to 12 years.

The researchers found that pooled risk ratio estimates were not significant for the associations between metabolic equivalents of tasks in days per week and painful radiographic knee osteoarthritis (risk ratio [RR], 1.02; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.93 to 1.12), radiographic knee osteoarthritis (RR, 1.00; 95 percent CI, 0.94 to 1.07), and osteoarthritis-related knee pain (RR, 1.00; 95 percent CI, 0.96 to 1.04). Similarly, there were no significant associations for any outcomes when analyzing hours per week spent in physical activity.

“Our findings suggest that whole-body, physiological energy expenditure during recreational activities and time spent in physical activity were not associated with incident knee osteoarthritis outcomes,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.

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