Does fat mass contribute to knee osteoarthritis risk beyond weight itself? Data from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study
Main finding · Incident radiographic knee OA, females (highest vs lowest % fat mass in weight category)Result — go to the resultRelative risk 1.29 95% CI 1.02–1.64Authors' conclusion
A higher relative fat mass did not influence increased risk of incident ROA in males, but there was a potential threshold effect in females.
Study context
- Population
- Multicenter Osteoarthritis (MOST) Study participants with DXA body composition and no radiographic knee OA in ≥1 knee at baseline (60% female, mean age 61.7 years, BMI 29.6 kg/m²)2,646 knees
- Participants
- 1,611 participants
- Exposure
- Highest vs lowest % fat mass quartile within sex-specific weight categories
- Outcome
- Incident radiographic knee OA (KL grade ≥2 or knee replacement)
- Follow-up
- 7 years
Methodological detailssex-specific weight categories, % fat mass quartiles (lowest as referent), spline analyses
- Sex-specific weight categories
- % fat mass quartiles (lowest as referent)
- Spline analyses
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incident radiographic knee OA, females (highest vs lowest % fat mass in weight category)
Relative risk
1.29
95% CI 1.02–1.64
Q4vs Q1
RR 1.29 (95% CI 1.02–1.64)
- Incident ROA developed in knees after 7 years (overall)
- 27.6%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Does fat mass contribute to knee osteoarthritis risk beyond weight itself? Data from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. Published 23 July 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →