The Influence of Weight Loss on Symptomatic Relief of Knee Osteoarthritis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of weight loss on pain and functional performance in obese patients with knee osteoarthritis. Forty patients diagnosed with knee OA whose body mass index (BMI) was more than 27kg/m2 were treated with a low caloric diet, an appetite supressant and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs for 3 months. The patients were instructed to follow a walking program for 1 hour three times per week and isometric quadriceps exercise. The body mass index was used as a measure of obesity. The knee radiographs were graded, for OA based on the worse knee, according to the Kellgren and Lawrence radiographic criteria. Pain and disability were assessed at the beginning and the end of the study using the WOMAC(Westem Ontario and Mc Master Universities) OA index. The mean age was 54.14±1.52 years with a mean symptom duration of 4.53± 0.78 years. Average BMI was 37.10±0.65kg/m2 at baseline and was 34.50±0.53kg/m2 at 3. months. At initial evaluation, BMI was associated with high pain and disability scores. There were a significant correlation between baseline BMI and pain, disability scores( r=0.395, p=0.02 and r=0.367, p=0.03 respectively). A significant relation was observed between loss of weight with pain and disability scores the end of the study(respectively p<0.01, p<0.01). We found no significant correlation between improvement in symtoms of patients and proportion of body weight loss. Our results suggest, body weight loss are more important in symptomatic relief of knee OA.