Table 2.

Median Kellgren–Lawrence grades and paired comparisons over time for left and right knees

Timepoint	Knee	N	KL grade (median, IQR)	Wilcoxon signed-rank test vs. baseline (p-value)
V1	Left	54	2, 2–3	—
V5		50	2, 2–3	0.317
V7		50	2, 2–3	0.317
V1	Right	59	2, 2–3	—
V5		55	2, 2–3	0.317
V7		54	2, 2–3	0.317

Radiographic KL grades were assessed for each knee at baseline (Visit 1), Week 6 (Visit 5), and Week 28 (Visit 7). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare each follow-up timepoint with baseline. No statistically significant differences were observed. The Friedman test for all treated knees also showed no significant effect of time (p = 0.985). The corresponding trend is shown in Fig. 2