Table 3.

Association between meniscal damage and the development of radiographic tibiofemoral OA in knees with and those without tibiofemoral cartilage lesions at baseline^*

	Tibiofemoral cartilage status at baseline
	Normal or increased cartilage signal only but no focal lesion		Partial- or full-thickness lesion(s)
Meniscus status	Cases (n = 29)	Controls (n = 161)	Cases (n = 92)	Controls (n = 131)
No damage	14	143	42	95
Damage†	15	18	50	36
Crude OR (95% CI)	8.5 (3.5–20)		3.1 (1.8–5.5)
Adjusted OR (95% CI)‡	10 (3.5–29)		3.5 (1.9–6.3)

^*A cartilage lesion was defined as cartilage grade ≥2 according to the Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score. Values for baseline cartilage status were missing for 2 control knees. Case knees were those in which radiographic tibiofemoral osteoarthritis (OA) had developed at 30 months. OR = odds ratio; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval.

^†Any region of the medial or lateral meniscus.

^‡Adjusted for baseline age, sex, body mass index, physical activity level, and mechanical knee alignment.