Skip to main content
British Journal of Sports Medicine logoLink to British Journal of Sports Medicine
. 2005 Jan;39(1):4–5. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2004.011841

Obesity: a preventable risk factor for large joint osteoarthritis which may act through biomechanical factors

A Powell 1, A Teichtahl 1, A Wluka 1, F Cicuttini 1
PMCID: PMC1725004  PMID: 15618330

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (37.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Acheson R. M., Collart A. B. New Haven survey of joint diseases. XVII. Relationship between some systemic characteristics and osteoarthrosis in a general population. Ann Rheum Dis. 1975 Oct;34(5):379–387. doi: 10.1136/ard.34.5.379. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson J. J., Felson D. T. Factors associated with osteoarthritis of the knee in the first national Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES I). Evidence for an association with overweight, race, and physical demands of work. Am J Epidemiol. 1988 Jul;128(1):179–189. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114939. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Andriacchi T. P. Dynamics of knee malalignment. Orthop Clin North Am. 1994 Jul;25(3):395–403. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cicuttini F. M., Baker J. R., Spector T. D. The association of obesity with osteoarthritis of the hand and knee in women: a twin study. J Rheumatol. 1996 Jul;23(7):1221–1226. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cooper C., Snow S., McAlindon T. E., Kellingray S., Stuart B., Coggon D., Dieppe P. A. Risk factors for the incidence and progression of radiographic knee osteoarthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 2000 May;43(5):995–1000. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(200005)43:5<995::AID-ANR6>3.0.CO;2-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Davis M. A., Ettinger W. H., Neuhaus J. M. The role of metabolic factors and blood pressure in the association of obesity with osteoarthritis of the knee. J Rheumatol. 1988 Dec;15(12):1827–1832. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Davis M. A., Neuhaus J. M., Ettinger W. H., Mueller W. H. Body fat distribution and osteoarthritis. Am J Epidemiol. 1990 Oct;132(4):701–707. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115711. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dequeker J., Goris P., Uytterhoeven R. Osteoporosis and osteoarthritis (osteoarthrosis). Anthropometric distinctions. JAMA. 1983 Mar 18;249(11):1448–1451. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Felson D. T., Anderson J. J., Naimark A., Walker A. M., Meenan R. F. Obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The Framingham Study. Ann Intern Med. 1988 Jul 1;109(1):18–24. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-109-1-18. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Felson D. T., Chaisson C. E., Hill C. L., Totterman S. M., Gale M. E., Skinner K. M., Kazis L., Gale D. R. The association of bone marrow lesions with pain in knee osteoarthritis. Ann Intern Med. 2001 Apr 3;134(7):541–549. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-134-7-200104030-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Felson D. T., Naimark A., Anderson J., Kazis L., Castelli W., Meenan R. F. The prevalence of knee osteoarthritis in the elderly. The Framingham Osteoarthritis Study. Arthritis Rheum. 1987 Aug;30(8):914–918. doi: 10.1002/art.1780300811. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Felson D. T., Zhang Y., Anthony J. M., Naimark A., Anderson J. J. Weight loss reduces the risk for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis in women. The Framingham Study. Ann Intern Med. 1992 Apr 1;116(7):535–539. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-116-7-535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hart D. J., Doyle D. V., Spector T. D. Association between metabolic factors and knee osteoarthritis in women: the Chingford Study. J Rheumatol. 1995 Jun;22(6):1118–1123. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hart D. J., Spector T. D. The relationship of obesity, fat distribution and osteoarthritis in women in the general population: the Chingford Study. J Rheumatol. 1993 Feb;20(2):331–335. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hochberg M. C., Lethbridge-Cejku M., Scott W. W., Jr, Reichle R., Plato C. C., Tobin J. D. The association of body weight, body fatness and body fat distribution with osteoarthritis of the knee: data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. J Rheumatol. 1995 Mar;22(3):488–493. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Jackson B. D., Teichtahl A. J., Morris M. E., Wluka A. E., Davis S. R., Cicuttini F. M. The effect of the knee adduction moment on tibial cartilage volume and bone size in healthy women. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2003 Dec 16;43(3):311–314. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keh002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. KELLGREN J. H., MOORE R. Generalized osteoarthritis and Heberden's nodes. Br Med J. 1952 Jan 26;1(4751):181–187. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.4751.181. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Keen R. W., Hart D. J., Lanchbury J. S., Spector T. D. Association of early osteoarthritis of the knee with a Taq I polymorphism of the vitamin D receptor gene. Arthritis Rheum. 1997 Aug;40(8):1444–1449. doi: 10.1002/art.1780400812. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Matkovic V., Ilich J. Z., Skugor M., Badenhop N. E., Goel P., Clairmont A., Klisovic D., Nahhas R. W., Landoll J. D. Leptin is inversely related to age at menarche in human females. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1997 Oct;82(10):3239–3245. doi: 10.1210/jcem.82.10.4280. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Messier S. P. Osteoarthritis of the knee and associated factors of age and obesity: effects on gait. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1994 Dec;26(12):1446–1452. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rejeski W. Jack, Focht Brian C., Messier Steven P., Morgan Tim, Pahor Marco, Penninx Brenda. Obese, older adults with knee osteoarthritis: weight loss, exercise, and quality of life. Health Psychol. 2002 Sep;21(5):419–426. doi: 10.1037//0278-6133.21.5.419. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Schouten J. S., van den Ouweland F. A., Valkenburg H. A. A 12 year follow up study in the general population on prognostic factors of cartilage loss in osteoarthritis of the knee. Ann Rheum Dis. 1992 Aug;51(8):932–937. doi: 10.1136/ard.51.8.932. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sharma L., Hurwitz D. E., Thonar E. J., Sum J. A., Lenz M. E., Dunlop D. D., Schnitzer T. J., Kirwan-Mellis G., Andriacchi T. P. Knee adduction moment, serum hyaluronan level, and disease severity in medial tibiofemoral osteoarthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1998 Jul;41(7):1233–1240. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(199807)41:7<1233::AID-ART14>3.0.CO;2-L. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sharma L., Lou C., Cahue S., Dunlop D. D. The mechanism of the effect of obesity in knee osteoarthritis: the mediating role of malalignment. Arthritis Rheum. 2000 Mar;43(3):568–575. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(200003)43:3<568::AID-ANR13>3.0.CO;2-E. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Spector T. D., Cicuttini F., Baker J., Loughlin J., Hart D. Genetic influences on osteoarthritis in women: a twin study. BMJ. 1996 Apr 13;312(7036):940–943. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7036.940. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Teichtahl A. J., Morris M. E., Wluka A. E., Bach T. M., Cicuttini F. M. A comparison of gait patterns between the offspring of people with medial tibiofemoral osteoarthritis and normal controls. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2003 Jul-Aug;21(4):421–423. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Sports Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES