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PLOS One logoLink to PLOS One
. 2021 Jan 7;16(1):e0245002. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245002

Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: A prospective cohort study

Yuan Z Lim 1,#, Yuanyuan Wang 1,#, Flavia M Cicuttini 1, Graham G Giles 1,2,3, Stephen Graves 4, Anita E Wluka 1, Sultana Monira Hussain 1,*
Editor: Osama Farouk5
PMCID: PMC7790262  PMID: 33411773

Abstract

Objective

To examine the risk of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) due to osteoarthritis associated with obesity defined by body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference (WC) and whether there is discordance between these measures in assessing this risk.

Methods

36,784 participants from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study with BMI and WC measured at 1990–1994 were included. Obesity was defined by BMI (≥30 kg/m2) or WC (men ≥102cm, women ≥88cm). The incidence of TKA between January 2001 and December 2018 was determined by linking participant records to the National Joint Replacement Registry.

Results

Over 15.4±4.8 years, 2,683 participants underwent TKA. There were 20.4% participants with BMI-defined obesity, 20.8% with WC-defined obesity, and 73.6% without obesity defined by either BMI or WC. Obesity was classified as non-obese (misclassified obesity) in 11.7% of participants if BMI or WC alone was used to define obesity. BMI-defined obesity (HR 2.69, 95%CI 2.48–2.92), WC-defined obesity (HR 2.28, 95%CI 2.10–2.48), and obesity defined by either BMI or WC (HR 2.53, 95%CI 2.33–2.74) were associated with an increased risk of TKA. Compared with those without obesity, participants with misclassified obesity had an increased risk of TKA (HR 2.06, 95%CI 1.85–2.30). 22.7% of TKA in the community can be attributable to BMI-defined obesity, and a further 3.3% of TKA can be identified if WC was also used to define obesity.

Conclusions

Both BMI and WC should be used to identify obese individuals who are at risk of TKA for osteoarthritis and should be targeted for prevention and treatment.

Introduction

Obesity is an important modifiable risk factor for knee osteoarthritis (OA) [1]. Using an accurate and simple measure of obesity to identify individuals who are at higher risk of knee OA is important if we are to prevent the disease. Body mass index (BMI) is primarily used as a simple screening tool for obesity at the population level [2], but it has the limitation of not taking into account body fat distribution [3]. Waist circumference (WC) estimates central obesity and has been shown to be a better predictor for cardio-metabolic morbidity and premature mortality than BMI [3], particularly for people with lower BMI [4] and for women [5]. Discordance between BMI and WC in classifying individuals as obese has been demonstrated in a number of studies. For example, an Australian study reported that approximately 40% of individuals having WC obesity (WC ≥102 cm for men and ≥88 cm for women) were not obese with respect to BMI (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) [6]. This discordance was greater in Chinese adults with 75.7% of those who were obese with respect to WC not defined as obese based on BMI [7].

Previous studies have examined BMI or WC obesity separately as a risk factor for knee OA [1, 3, 8] with no study taking into account the known discordance between BMI and WC in classifying obesity. This is likely to have misclassified some people who are obese defined by BMI but not WC, and vice versa, who may be at risk of knee OA. Examining both BMI and WC has the potential to better identify those at increased risk of knee OA and intervene accordingly. Thus we aimed to examine the risk of severe knee OA assessed by total knee arthroplasty (TKA) due to OA associated with obesity defined by BMI or WC and whether there is discordance between these measures in assessing this risk.

Materials and methods

Study population with inclusion and exclusion criteria

The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS) is a well-established cohort study that recruited 41,514 participants (17,045 men, 99.3% aged 40–69 years) during 1990–1994 [9]. All subjects gave their informed written consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Cancer Council Victoria’s Human Research Ethics Committee (IEC No. 9001) [9]. For the current study, 4693 (11.3%) were excluded because they had either: died or left Australia or reported having an arthroplasty prior to 1 January 2001; or their first recorded procedure was a total hip arthroplasty to a revision surgery [9]. We also excluded participants with missing data on BMI or WC (n = 37), leaving 36,784 participants available for analysis.

Data collection on total knee arthroplasty for OA

The Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOA NJRR) collects information on prostheses, patient demographics, type and reason for arthroplasty, with an almost complete data relating to arthroplasty (>99%) in Australia [10]. Linking the MCCS records to the AOA NJRR identified those who had a primary TKA performed between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2018. Knee OA was defined as the first primary TKA with a contemporaneous diagnosis of OA, as recorded in the AOA NJRR. If one person had multiple arthroplasties, the first recorded procedure was considered the event. The linkage study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Cancer Council Victoria (HREC 0601) and Monash University (2006000608).

Data collection on demography and anthropometry

At baseline, demographic and lifestyle data, including date of birth, sex, and country of birth, were collected using pre-piloted standard questionnaires [11]. Smoking was assessed by asking participants if they smoked, if so whether they have smoked at least seven cigarettes a week, and were classified as non-smoker or current/ex-smoker [12, 13]. Physical activity was assessed by three separate questions obtained from the Risk Factor Prevalence Study conducted by the National Heart Foundation and Australian Institute of Health regarding frequency of non-occupational vigorous and moderate physical activity, and walking [12, 14]. Participants were categorised as whether or not participating in vigorous activity in line with values published in the Compendium of Physical Activities [15]. WC, height and weight were measured using standard procedures [9, 11]. Obesity was defined by BMI ≥30 kg/m2 or WC ≥102 cm for men and ≥88 cm for women [16]. Individuals with obesity based on either high BMI or high WC were identified. Obesity status was classified into three categories based on a combination of BMI and WC obesity: ‘no obesity’ (not having obesity based on either BMI or WC); ‘obesity based on both BMI and WC’; ‘misclassified obesity’ if an individual is classified as non-obese when BMI or WC alone was used to define obesity.

Statistical analysis

Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the incidence of TKA due to OA associated with different definitions of obesity and obesity status, with age as the time scale. Follow-up for TKA (calculation of person-time) began 1 January 2001 and ended at the date of first TKA for OA or date of censoring. Participants were censored at either the date of first TKA indications other than OA, the date of death, or end of follow-up, whichever came first. To test whether the association between obesity and TKA for OA was modified by sex, interactions were fitted and tested using the likelihood ratio test. Since there was no interaction (>0.20), all analyses were performed for total population. However, as women have a higher prevalence of obesity and knee OA compared with men, sex stratified analyses were also performed. Population attributable fraction (PAF) was calculated to determine the proportion of knee arthroplasties in the population that could be attributable to obesity: obesity based on BMI, obesity based on WC, and obesity based on either BMI or WC, using the “punafcc” command in Stata, which implements the method recommended by Greenland and Drescher [17]. The formula for PAF used is ∑pdi [(HRi − 1)/HRi], where pdi is the proportion of TKA for OA observed in the ith obesity category and HRi is the hazard ratio (HR) associated with that category. The STATA formula for ‘punafcc’ is presented as an appendix (S1 Appendix). All analyses were adjusted for sex, smoking status, physical activity and country of birth. Confounders were selected based on the Directed acyclic graph (DAG) diagram [18] (S1 Fig) Tests based on Cox regression methods showed no evidence that proportional hazard assumptions were violated for any analysis. All statistical analyses were performed using Stata 15.0 (StataCorp LP., College Station, TX, USA).

Results

Of the whole population (n = 36,784), 73.6% (n = 27,056) had no obesity, 26.4% (n = 9,728) had obesity based on either BMI or WC. When BMI was used to define obesity, 20.4% of the participants were classified as obese. If WC was used to define obesity, 20.8% were classified as obese. Obesity was misclassified in 11.7% (n = 4,290) of the participants if BMI or WC alone was used to define obesity (Fig 1).

Fig 1. Obesity defined by body mass index and/or waist circumference and discordance between these measures.

Fig 1

Table 1 shows the general characteristics of the study participants. Over an average of 15.4±4.8 years’ follow-up, 2,683 participants underwent TKA for OA. Those who had a TKA were older and more likely to be born in Australia/UK and had a higher BMI and WC than those without TKA. The prevalence of obesity defined by any definition (either BMI or WC, both BMI and WC) was higher among those who had a TKA.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics and obesity status of study participants at baseline (1990–94).

Total population (n = 36,784) No knee arthroplasty (n = 34,101) Knee arthroplasty (n = 2,683) P value No knee arthroplasty vs Knee arthroplasty
Age, years 62.6 (8.9) 62.5 (8.9) 63.7 (7.8) <0.001
(Range) (35.3–83.0) (35.3–83.0) (45.8–79.9)
Gender <0.001
 Male, n (%) 14,888 (40.5) 13,976 (41.0) 912 (34.0)
 Female, n (%) 21,896 (59.5) 20,125 (59.0) 1,771 (66.0)
Country of birth, n (%) <0.001
 Australia and UK 27,705 (75.3) 25,493 (74.8) 2,212 (82.4)
 Italy and Greek 9,079 (24.7) 8,608 (25.2) 471 (17.6)
Moderate and high level of physical activity, n (%) 21,168 (57.6) 19,569 (57.4) 1,599 (59.6) 0.03
Current/ex-smoker, n (%) 15,402 (41.9) 14,394 (42.2) 1,008 (37.6) <0.001
BMI, kg/m2, mean (SD) 26.9 (4.4) 26.7 (4.3) 29.1 (4.8) <0.001
(Range) (14.0–57.8) (14.0–57.8) (18.0–49.7)
Waist circumference, cm, mean (SD) 85.2 (12.9) 85.0 (12.8) 88.8 (12.7) <0.001
(Range) (47.0–166.5) (47.0–166.5) (55.0–135.5)
Obesity based on BMI, n (%) 7,501 (20.4) 6,529 (19.4) 973 (36.3) <0.001
Obesity based on WC, n (%) 7,665 (20.8) 6,745 (19.8) 920 (34.3) <0.001
Obesity based on EITHER BMI or WC, n (%) 9,728 (26.4) 8,564 (25.1) 1,164 (43.4) <0.001
Obesity status <0.001
 No obesity based on both BMI and WC 27,056 (73.6) 25,537 (74.9) 1,519 (56.6)
 Obesity based on BOTH BMI and WC 5,438 (14.8) 4,709 (13.8) 729 (27.2)
 Misclassified as non-obese if obesity was defined by either BMI or WC alone 4,290 (11.7) 3,855 (11.3) 435 (16.2)

UK, United Kingdom; BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; Obesity based on BMI: defined as BMI ≥30 kg/m2; Obesity based on WC: defined as WC ≥88cm for men & ≥102cm for women.

Table 2 shows the relationship of different definitions of obesity and obesity status with the incidence of TKA for OA. After full adjustment, participants with obesity defined by BMI (HR 2.69, 95% CI 2.48, 2.92), WC (HR 2.28, 95% CI 2.10, 2.48), or defined by either BMI or WC (HR 2.53, 95% CI 2.33, 2.74) had an increased risk of TKA for OA compared with those who were not classified as obese using each of these definitions. Participants having obesity defined by both BMI and WC (HR 2.93, 95% CI 2.68, 3.21), and those with misclassified obesity, with only one of BMI or WC meeting criteria for obesity (HR 2.06, 95% CI 1.85, 2.30) had an increased risk of TKA for OA compared with those without either BMI or WC obesity. The relationship between different definitions of obesity and incidence of TKA for OA were similar in the sex-stratified analysis (S1 Table).

Table 2. Relationship of different definitions of obesity, and obesity status with incidence of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

Model 1 Hazard ratio (95% CI) Model 2 Hazard ratio (95% CI)
Obesity based on BMI, yes/no 2.32 (2.14, 2.51) 2.69 (2.48, 2.92)
Obesity based on WC, yes/no 2.05 (1.89, 2.23) 2.28 (2.10, 2.48)
Obesity based on EITHER BMI or WC, yes/no 2.21 (2.05, 2.39) 2.53 (2.33, 2.74)
Obesity status
No obesity either BMI obesity or WC obesity 1.00 1.00
Obesity is not identified if one of BMI or WC is used 1.83 (1.65, 2.04) 2.06 (1.85, 2.30)
Obesity based on BOTH BMI and WC 2.51 (2.30, 2.74) 2.93 (2.68, 3.21)

CI, confidence interval; BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; Model 1. adjusted for age and sex, Model 2: adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, physical activity and country of birth.

Table 3 shows the PAF of TKA in relation to different definitions of obesity, i.e. the estimated fraction of TKA that could be attributable to obesity. The PAF for obesity defined by either BMI or WC on TKA was estimated to be 26.0% (95% CI 23.5%, 28.5%) after adjustment for potential confounders. The PAFs for obesity based on BMI and obesity based on WC were 22.7% (95% CI 20.5%, 25.0) and 18.9% (95% CI 16.5%, 21.1%), respectively. In sex-stratified analysis the PAFs for obesity on TKA were higher in women than men (S2 Table).

Table 3. Estimated population attributable fraction (PAF, %) of total knee arthroplasty in relation to different definitions of obesity.

Model 1 PAF (95% CI) Model 2 PAF (95% CI)
Obesity based on BMI 20.7 (18.4, 23.0) 22.7 (20.5, 25.0)
Obesity based on WC 17.2 (14.9, 20.0) 18.9 (16.5, 21.1)
Obesity based on either BMI and WC 23.7 (21.0, 26.2) 26.0 (23.5, 28.5)

PAF, population attributable fraction; CI, confidence interval; BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; Model 1. adjusted for age and sex, Model 2: adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, physical activity and country of birth.

Discussion

We found obesity was misclassified in 11.7% of participants if BMI or WC alone was used to define obesity. All participants with obesity, regardless of definition used (BMI only, WC only, both BMI and WC, or either BMI or WC) had an increased risk of TKA for OA compared with those with no obesity. Almost 26% of TKAs in the population can be attributable to obesity defined by either BMI or WC. Whereas, if as is currently done, we defined obesity based on only BMI or WC, 3.3% and 7.1% of TKAs that can be attributable to obesity were missed, respectively. The results remained similar when we adjusted for age and sex (model 1) and further adjusted for smoking status, vigorous physical activity and country of birth (model 2). These relationships held true for both men and women, particularly for women.

We found that obesity based on either BMI or WC was associated with an increased risk of TKA for OA. Compared with non-obese participants, individuals with BMI obesity, those with WC obesity, and those with either BMI or WC obesity had approximately double the risk of TKA. However, the risk of TKA was somewhat highest in participants with obesity defined by both BMI and WC. Recently, for the identification of individuals at risk of knee OA, BMI has been suggested as a sufficient measure of obesity [19]. Although our data broadly support this, we found that 22.7% of TKAs in the community can be attributable to obesity defined by BMI, but a further 3.3% of this could be identified if obesity was also defined by WC, even in the absence of BMI-defined obesity. As we and others have shown that WC is also a risk factor for knee arthroplasty for OA [1, 3, 8], this represents a significant missed opportunity to identify and target those at risk of knee arthroplasty for OA. This additional 3.3% is significant given that 22.7% of TKA for OA are attributable to BMI obesity. Thus our study supports using both BMI and WC to identify individuals with obesity who are at risk of knee OA for disease prevention and management. Given the lack of effective therapies to prevent disease progression in knee OA, this is of particular importance as we grapple with improved methods of prevention.

The strengths of our study include its prospective design, large sample size, participants of varying age and country of birth, and the validation and completeness of arthroplasty data from the AOA NJRR [10]. Our results need to be considered within the study’s limitations. In this study, we have used TKA as a proxy for severe symptomatic OA. Although, other factors such as access to health care, patient and clinician factors influence the decision for arthroplasty [20], the publicly-funded universal health system (Medicare) in Australia ensures that everyone has access to arthroplasty facilities. Our analyses have controlled for age, sex, smoking status, physical activity and country of birth. Using TKA as a surrogate measure of knee OA, we have shown consistent associations between established risk factors for knee OA and the risk of TKA for OA [3, 9, 21]. The similar procedure is used as a validated measure of defining knee OA in the Scandinavian countries as the data are available in reliable national registries [8]. Arthroplasty data were not available prior to 2001 and as a result, some misclassification of arthroplasty may have occurred. This is most likely to have been non-differential which might have attenuated the strength of the observed associations. The assumption for PAF calculation is that there is a causal relationship between the risk factor and outcome. PAF can be calculated using data from observational studies as long as this assumption is considered [22]. A further assumption in PAF is that the distribution of the other confounders regardless of obesity remains stable. Our key confounders of age, sex, and country of birth are stable. Studies have shown that there is a relatively strong concordance of levels of obesity and physical activity status over 20 years [23, 24]. However, some misclassification may have occurred.

Conclusions

Both BMI and WC should be used to define obesity in order to identify those at risk of knee OA, as both measures are associated with an increased risk of TKA for OA. Defining obesity using BMI as well as WC identifies a higher proportion of those with obesity related severe knee OA with the potential to improve approaches to the prevention of knee OA.

Supporting information

S1 Fig. The relationship of obesity and the confounders with total knee replacement for osteoarthritis.

(TIF)

S1 Table. Relationship of different definitions of obesity, and obesity status with incidence of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

(DOCX)

S2 Table. Estimated population attributable fraction (PAF, %) of total knee arthroplasty in relation to different definitions of obesity.

(DOCX)

S1 Appendix. STATA formula for ‘punafcc’.

(DOCX)

Acknowledgments

The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study was made possible by the contribution of many people, including the original investigators and the diligent team who recruited the participants and who continue working on follow up. We would like to express our gratitude to the many thousands of Melbourne residents who participated in the study. For the data linkage, we would especially like to thank the Registry coordinator Ann Tomkins and statistician Lisa Miller from the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry, and Ms Georgina Marr from Cancer Council Victoria.

Data Availability

All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting information files.

Funding Statement

The recruitment of the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study was funded by VicHealth and Cancer Council Victoria. This study was funded by a program grants from the National Health Medical Research Council (NHMRC; 209057, 251533, 396414, 623208), and was further supported by infrastructure provided by Cancer Council Victoria. SMH is the recipient of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellowship (APP1142198), YW and AEW are the recipients of NHMRC Translating Research Into Practice (APP1168185 and APP1150102, respectively). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Decision Letter 0

Osama Farouk

9 Sep 2020

PONE-D-20-22684

Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a prospective cohort study

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: No

**********

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Congratulations for the great work. Having access to this information bank of your country is a privilege that should be used as you did. Obesity has to be combated by all health professionals and cannot go unnoticed. Making this risk clear is really our role.

Reviewer #2: Using a longitudinal study, the authors demonstrated that obesity is a risk factor for total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis. They also estimated PAR for obesity based on its different definition. Here are my concerns.

Method

• The authors stated that they employed a standard questionnaire and cited the reference number 9. Please provide the reliability and validity indices of the study questionnaire.

• The classification of obesity based on WC and BMI is not clear. Please using a 2 by 2 table, clarify the status of the participants based on these 2 index.

• Please provide the confounding criteria utilized for study confounder selection?

• Please add the utilized PARF formula.

Results

• Table 1: please add the utilized test for comparison as well as their corresponding Pvalue.

Study limitation:

• Please note that the interpretation of PAF need to consider its well-known assumptions i.e. 1) the estimated ORs should be causal (which is not supported in observational studies), 2) the distribution of the other confounders regardless of obesity must be stable.

Reviewer #3: The paper is well writen and represents useful information for the clinician. BMI is frequently used for obesity screening. However, waist circumference seems more adequate in the evaluation of fat distribution. This paper indicates that, regarding knee OA, both measures indicate patients with higher risk of TKA for osteoarthritis. So, both can be used in clinical assessment.

Reviewer #4: General comments:

Th idea about “ Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis” is interesting and original. Obesity is an important modifiable and on the other hand knee osteoarthritis as a common and significant orthopedic problem with subsequent knee arthroplasty. As a whole this manuscript is almost well written. However, I have some comments below:

Abstract:

The statement objective is not written well, it’s better to be written as that was at the end of the introduction.

Methods:

- The study design is a good and strength point and support the results of the study in addition to the large sample size.

- The subtitles of the methods is not suitable for this section, “Incidence of total knee arthroplasty for OA” and “Demographic data, anthropometric measurements and classification of obesity status” could be written in results section and not as a methodology subtitle. The subtitles in this section are study population with inclusion and exclusion criteria, Data collection as sampling, data collection tools,….etc

- Some details about the assessment of physical activity, questionnaires used are needed

- The absence of the flow chart of this cohort study is a great missing and should be included.

- Inclusion of other factors as risk factors as secondary outcomes as: sex, age, physical activity and residence could be beneficial in this large study with large data.

Results:

- The titles of the tables and figures are short and are needed to be written in complete informative way especially of table (1).

- In table (1):

• text comment there is a discrepancy between the total number of of participants with TKA and the number in table (1), please correct.

• It’s better to include female number with male number

• Clarify the numbers related to the BMI: AS if they are about mean+ SD, or what are they refer to? The same is in waist circumference.

• Add the range (minimum – maximum) in age, BMI and waist circumference.

Discussion

- After inclusion of other factors ( sex, age, physical activity and residence) could be included in the discussion section.

**********

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Joao Paulo Fernandes Guerreiro (Guerreiro, JPF)

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: Yes: Dalia G Mahran

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PLoS One. 2021 Jan 7;16(1):e0245002. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245002.r002

Author response to Decision Letter 0


21 Oct 2020

PONE-D-20-22684

Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a prospective cohort study

Review Comments to the Author

Reviewer #1: Congratulations for the great work. Having access to this information bank of your country is a privilege that should be used as you did. Obesity has to be combated by all health professionals and cannot go unnoticed. Making this risk clear is really our role.

Response: We would like to thank the reviewer for these encouraging comments.

Reviewer #2: Using a longitudinal study, the authors demonstrated that obesity is a risk factor for total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis. They also estimated PAR for obesity based on its different definition. Here are my concerns.

Response: We would like to respond in line with the reviewer’s comments.

Method

• The authors stated that they employed a standard questionnaire and cited the reference number 9. Please provide the reliability and validity indices of the study questionnaire.

Response: Data on date of birth, sex, country of birth, and education were collected based on standard questionnaires that were piloted prior to data collection(1). Smoking was assessed by asking participants if they currently smoke. Participants who reported currently smoking at least seven cigarettes weekly were categorised as current smokers. Those not currently smoking but who had smoked at least seven cigarettes weekly for at least a year were categorised as ex‐smokers. Others were classified as never smokers(2, 3). Physical activity was assessed by three separate questions obtained from the Risk Factor Prevalence Study conducted by the National Heart Foundation and Australian Institute of Health regarding frequency of non-occupational vigorous and moderate physical activity, and walking(2, 4). Participants were categorised as whether or not participating in vigorous physical activity in line with values published in the Compendium of Physical Activities(5). All these suggest the reliability and validity of the study questionnaire.

Author action: We have now clarified the issue raised by the reviewer and amended the text in the manuscript. (page 5, paragraph 1)

At baseline, demographic and lifestyle data, including date of birth, sex, and country of birth, were collected using pre-piloted standard questionnaires (11). Smoking was assessed by asking participants if they smoked, if so whether they have smoked at least seven cigarettes a week, and were classified as non-smoker or current/ex-smoker(12, 13). Physical activity was assessed by three separate questions obtained from the Risk Factor Prevalence Study conducted by the National Heart Foundation and Australian Institute of Health regarding frequency of non-occupational vigorous and moderate physical activity, and walking(12, 14). Participants were categorised as whether or not participating in vigorous activity in line with values published in the Compendium of Physical Activities(15).

• The classification of obesity based on WC and BMI is not clear. Please using a 2 by 2 table, clarify the status of the participants based on these 2 index.

Response: As we have indicated in our manuscript, we firstly defined obesity based on BMI (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) and WC (WC ≥102 cm for men and ≥88 cm for women) separately. Based on these two variables obesity status was classified as ‘no obesity’ (not having obesity based on either BMI or WC); ‘obesity based on both BMI and WC’; and ‘misclassified obesity’ (obesity based on either BMI or WC, but not both). As the reviewer requested, we present the 2 by 2 table below.

Obesity based on WC

No Obesity based on WC

Yes Total

Obesity based on BMI

No 27056 2227 29283

Obesity based on BMI

Yes 2063 5438 7501

Total 29119 7665 36784

There were 27,056 participants who did not have obesity defined by either BMI or WC, and 5438 participants were defined as obesity based on both BMI and WC.

Based on BMI only, 7501 participants had obesity. However, 2227 participants who were classified as non-obese based on BMI were obese based on WC.

Based on WC only, 7665 participants had obesity. However, 2063 participants who were classified as non-obese based on WC were obese based on BMI.

So 4290 participants were misclassified if only BMI or WC was used to define obesity.

Author action: We have presented these numbers and categories in our manuscript as Figure 1.

Fig 1: Obesity defined by body mass index and/or waist circumference and discordance between these measures

• Please provide the confounding criteria utilized for study confounder selection?

Response: The figure below explains the relationship between obesity and total knee replacement for osteoarthritis with all variables used to build the models. We have selected the model based on the DAG diagram(6).

Author action: We have added the following text (page 6, paragraph 1) and have included the figure as Supplementary Figure in the manuscript.

Confounders were selected based on the Directed acyclic graph (DAG) diagram(6) (S1 Fig)

S1 Fig: The relationship of obesity and the confounders with total knee replacement for osteoarthritis

For our model building, we first considered the model which included all the predictors that had a p-value of less than 0.2 – 0.25 in the univariate analyses which in this particular analysis meant that we included every predictor in our model (https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stata/seminars/stata-survival/#building).

Table: the unadjusted association of the following variables with knee replacement

Explanatory variable HR (95% CI) P value

Sex 1.26 (1.16, 1.37) <0.001

Smoking status 0.89 (0.82, 0.96) 0.003

Vigorous physical activity 1.09 (1.01, 1.18) 0.02

Country of birth 0.60 (0.54, 0.67) <0.001

Education 1.01 (0.94, 1.10) 0.75

All the variables except for education fulfilled these criteria for inclusion in the final regression model. We repeated our analysis without adjustment for education, the results were very similar.

Author action: We have removed education from the list of confounders. Now all our analyses are adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, vigorous physical activity and country of birth.

• Please add the utilized PARF formula.

Response: We used the “punafcc” command from STATA that estimates a marginal mean between-scenario risk or hazard ratio for survival data. The formula for PAF is:

∑pdi[(HRi − 1)/HRi], where pdi is the proportion of total knee replacement for OA observed in the ith obesity category and HRi is the hazard ratio (HR) associated with that category.

In STATA the formula looks like the following

This implies that is the population mean risk ratio (or hazard ratio) between scenario i and the real world for the “subsubpopulation” of cases (or failures) of the subpopulation specified by the subpop() option and that (4) is a corresponding sample mean risk ratio (or hazard ratio) for the “subsubsample” of cases (or failures) of the subsample specified by the subpop() option. A mean between-scenario ratio is a subtly different quantity from a ratio between scenario means; however, both of these quantities are known as population unattributable fractions and can be subtracted from 1 to give population attributable fractions.

Author action: We have added the following line in the statistical analysis section (page 6, paragraph 1). We have also presented the STATA formula as an appendix.

The formula for PAF used is:

∑pdi[(HRi − 1)/HRi], where pdi is the proportion of total knee replacement for OA observed in the ith obesity category and HRi is the hazard ratio (HR) associated with that category. The STATA formula for ‘punafcc’ is presented as an appendix (S1 Appendix).

Results

• Table 1: please add the utilized test for comparison as well as their corresponding Pvalue.

Response: According to current STROBE guideline for reporting cohort studies, “P values for the table that describes the cohort profile are not essential”(7, 8). In fact in the study published in the PLoS Medicine and the other studies regarding reporting STROBE checklist published in the Lancet, Epidemiology, Annals of Internal Medicine, and the BMJ, a P value was not presented for the descriptive tables they have provided as an example. However, as suggested by the reviewer we have included p values in table 1.

Table 1. Baseline characteristics of study participants

Total population

(n=36,784) No knee arthroplasty (n=34,101) Knee arthroplasty

(n=2,683) P value

No knee arthroplasty vs Knee arthroplasty

Age, years 62.6 (8.9) 62.5 (8.9) 63.7 (7.8) <0.001

Male, n (%) 14,888 (40.5) 13,976 (41.0) 912 (34.0) <0.001

Country of birth, n (%) <0.001

Australia and UK 27,705 (75.3) 25,493 (74.8) 2,212 (82.4)

Italy and Greek 9,079 (24.7) 8,608 (25.2) 471 (17.6)

Secondary education, degree/diploma, n (%) 15,606 (42.7) 14,503 (42.8) 1,103 (41.3) 0.12

Moderate and high level of physical activity, n (%) 21,168 (57.6) 19,569 (57.4) 1,599 (59.6) 0.03

Current/ex-smoker, n (%) 15,402 (41.9) 14,394 (42.2) 1,008 (37.6) <0.001

BMI, kg/m2 26.9 (4.4) 26.7 (4.3) 29.1 (4.8) <0.001

Waist circumference, cm 85.2 (12.9) 85.0 (12.8) 88.8 (12.7) <0.001

Obesity based on BMI, n (%) 7,501 (20.4) 6,529 (19.4) 973 (36.3) <0.001

Obesity based on WC, n (%) 7,665 (20.8) 6,745 (19.8) 920 (34.3) <0.001

Obesity based on EITHER BMI or WC, n (%) 9,728 (26.4) 8,564 (25.1) 1,164 (43.4) <0.001

Obesity status <0.001

No obesity based on both BMI and WC 27,056 (73.6) 25,537 (74.9) 1,519 (56.6)

Obesity based on BOTH BMI and WC 5,438 (14.8) 4,709 (13.8) 729 (27.2)

Misclassified as non-obese if obesity was defined by either BMI or WC alone 4,290 (11.7) 3,855 (11.3) 435 (16.2)

UK, United Kingdom; BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; Obesity based on BMI: defined as BMI ≥30 kg/m2; Obesity based on WC: defined as WC ≥88cm for men & ≥102cm for women

Study limitation:

• Please note that the interpretation of PAF need to consider its well-known assumptions i.e. 1) the estimated ORs should be causal (which is not supported in observational studies), 2) the distribution of the other confounders regardless of obesity must be stable.

Response: We agree with the reviewer that the assumption for PAF is that there is a causal relationship between the risk factors and the outcome. This is the assumption inherent whenever a PAF is calculated(9). PAF is most commonly calculated from data derived from observational studies despite this limitation. In our study, age, sex, country of birth, education all remained stable. Smoking status might change over time. However, this is a group of community-based population, and thus without any specific indication changes in smoking habit is low. Previous studies have suggested a relatively strong concordance of weight(10) and physical activity(11) over 10-20 years especially in a stable older population.

Author action: We have included the following statements in the limitations section (page 12, paragraph 1)

The assumption for PAF calculation is that there is a causal relationship between the risk factor and outcome. PAF can be calculated using data from observational studies as long as this assumption is considered(22). A further assumption in PAF is that the distribution of the other confounders regardless of obesity remains stable. Our key confounders of age, sex, and country of birth are stable. Studies have shown that there is a relatively strong concordance of levels of obesity and physical activity status over 20 years(23, 24). However, some misclassification may have occurred.

Reviewer #3: The paper is well writen and represents useful information for the clinician. BMI is frequently used for obesity screening. However, waist circumference seems more adequate in the evaluation of fat distribution. This paper indicates that, regarding knee OA, both measures indicate patients with higher risk of TKA for osteoarthritis. So, both can be used in clinical assessment.

Response: We would like to thank the reviewer for these comments

Reviewer #4: General comments:

The idea about “ Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis” is interesting and original. Obesity is an important modifiable and on the other hand knee osteoarthritis as a common and significant orthopedic problem with subsequent knee arthroplasty. As a whole this manuscript is almost well written. However, I have some comments below:

Response: We would like to thank the reviewer for these encouraging comments.

Abstract:

The statement objective is not written well, it’s better to be written as that was at the end of the introduction.

Author action: We have amended the aims in the abstract (page 2, paragraph 1).

To examine the risk of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) due to osteoarthritis associated with obesity defined by body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference (WC) and whether there is discordance between these measures in assessing this risk.

Methods:

- The study design is a good and strength point and support the results of the study in addition to the large sample size.

Response: Thank you for the encouraging words.

- The subtitles of the methods is not suitable for this section, “Incidence of total knee arthroplasty for OA” and “Demographic data, anthropometric measurements and classification of obesity status” could be written in results section and not as a methodology subtitle. The subtitles in this section are study population with inclusion and exclusion criteria, Data collection as sampling, data collection tools,….etc

Response: We have changed the subtitles as suggested by the reviewer.

Author action: We have changed the subtitles of the method section as suggested by the reviewer. Our current subtitles for the methods section are-

Study population with inclusion and exclusion criteria

Data collection on total knee arthroplasty for OA

Data collection on demography and anthropometry

- Some details about the assessment of physical activity, questionnaires used are needed

Response: Physical activity was assessed by three separate questions obtained from the Risk Factor Prevalence Study conducted by the National Heart Foundation and Australian Institute of Health regarding frequency of non-occupational vigorous and moderate physical activity, and walking(2, 4). Participants were categorised as whether or not participating in vigorous physical activity in line with values published in the Compendium of Physical Activities(5).

Author action: We have now clarified the issue raised by the reviewer and have amended the text in the manuscript. (page 5, paragraph 1)

Physical activity was assessed by three separate questions obtained from the Risk Factor Prevalence Study conducted by the National Heart Foundation and Australian Institute of Health regarding frequency of non-occupational vigorous and moderate physical activity, and walking(12, 14). Participants were categorised as whether or not participating in vigorous activity in line with values published in the Compendium of Physical Activities(15).

- The absence of the flow chart of this cohort study is a great missing and should be included.

Response: As we have included ~90% of the original participants in the statistical analysis and we have few missing data, we did not include a flow chart. As the reviewer has mentioned, the flow chart is given below.

- Inclusion of other factors as risk factors as secondary outcomes as: sex, age, physical activity and residence could be beneficial in this large study with large data.

Response: We have included all these variables as confounders in the statistical analysis. Our aim was to examine the risk of severe knee OA assessed by total knee arthroplasty (TKA) due to OA associated with obesity defined by body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference (WC) and whether there is discordance between these measures in assessing this risk. We have examined the associations between exposure (obesity) and outcome (knee arthroplasty for OA) based on two regression models. Model 1 adjusted for age and sex, and Model 2 adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, vigorous physical activity and country of birth.

Results:

- The titles of the tables and figures are short and are needed to be written in complete informative way especially of table (1).

Response: As suggested, we have elaborated the title of table one. (page 7)

Table 1. Demographic characteristics and obesity status of study participants at baseline (1990-94)

- In table (1):

• text comment there is a discrepancy between the total number of of participants with TKA and the number in table (1), please correct.

Response: Thank you for pointing this out. This was an unintentional mistake. We have corrected this in the text.

• It’s better to include female number with male number

Response: As suggested, we have added the number of females in the table

Total population

(n=36,784) No knee arthroplasty (n=34,101) Knee arthroplasty

(n=2,683)

Age, years 62.6 (8.9) 62.5 (8.9) 63.7 (7.8)

Male, n (%) 14,888 (40.5) 13,976 (41.0) 912 (34.0)

Female, n (%) 21,896 (59.5) 20,125 (59.0) 1,771 (66.0)

• Clarify the numbers related to the BMI: AS if they are about mean+ SD, or what are they refer to? The same is in waist circumference.

Response: As suggested by the reviewer, we have clarified this in the table.

This reads

BMI, kg/m2, mean (SD) 26.9 (4.4) 26.7 (4.3) 29.1 (4.8)

Waist circumference, cm, mean (SD) 85.2 (12.9) 85.0 (12.8) 88.8 (12.7)

• Add the range (minimum – maximum) in age, BMI and waist circumference.

Response: We checked the distribution of data on age, BMI and waist circumference. As these data were normally distributed, we presented mean and standard deviation. Several statistical publications suggested that, range is based on only two of the observations and may not be representative of the whole dataset, particularly if there are outliers which is very likely to be present in a large data set(12, 13). However, as the reviewer requested, we have presented these as an appendix.

Author action: The ranges of age, BMI and WC are presented in S2 Appendix.

S2 Appendix: The range (minimum – maximum) of age, body mass index and waist circumference

Total population

(n=36,784) No knee arthroplasty (n=34,101) Knee arthroplasty

(n=2,683)

Age, years 35.3 - 83.0 35.3 - 83.0 45.8 - 79.9

Body mass index, kg/m2 14.0 - 57.8 14.0 - 57.8 18.0 - 49.7

Waist circumference, cm 47.0 - 166.5 47.0 - 166.5 55.0 - 135.5

Discussion

- After inclusion of other factors ( sex, age, physical activity and residence) could be included in the discussion section.

Response: As suggested by the reviewer, we have added the following lines in the discussion section.

Author action: (page 10, paragraph 2)

The results remained similar when we adjusted for age and sex (model 1) and further adjusted for smoking status, vigorous physical activity and country of birth (model 2).

1. Milne RL, Fletcher AS, MacInnis RJ, Hodge AM, Hopkins AH, Bassett JK, et al. Cohort Profile: The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (Health 2020). Int J Epidemiol 2017;46:1757-i

2. Jayasekara H, English DR, Haydon A, Hodge AM, Lynch BM, Rosty C, et al. Associations of alcohol intake, smoking, physical activity and obesity with survival following colorectal cancer diagnosis by stage, anatomic site and tumor molecular subtype. International journal of cancer 2018;142:238-50

3. Siahpush M, English D, Powles J. The contribution of smoking to socioeconomic differentials in mortality: results from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study, Australia. J Epidemiol Community Health 2006;60:1077-9

4. MacInnis RJ, English DR, Hopper JL, Haydon AM, Gertig DM, Giles GG. Body size and composition and colon cancer risk in men. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2004;13:553-9

5. Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Leon AS, Jacobs DR, Jr., Montoye HJ, Sallis JF, et al. Compendium of physical activities: classification of energy costs of human physical activities. Medicine and science in sports and exercise 1993;25:71-80

6. Shrier I, Platt RW. Reducing bias through directed acyclic graphs. BMC Med Res Methodol 2008;8:70

7. Vandenbroucke JP, von Elm E, Altman DG, Gøtzsche PC, Mulrow CD, Pocock SJ, et al. Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE): explanation and elaboration. International journal of surgery (London, England) 2014;12:1500-24

8. Vandenbroucke JP, von Elm E, Altman DG, Gøtzsche PC, Mulrow CD, Pocock SJ, et al. Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE): explanation and elaboration. Annals of internal medicine 2007;147:W163-94

9. Mansournia MA, Altman DG. Population attributable fraction. BMJ (Clinical research ed) 2018;360:k757

10. Hruby A, Hu FB. The Epidemiology of Obesity: A Big Picture. PharmacoEconomics 2015;33:673-89

11. Guthold R, Stevens GA, Riley LM, Bull FC. Worldwide trends in insufficient physical activity from 2001 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 358 population-based surveys with 1·9 million participants. The Lancet Global health 2018;6:e1077-e86

12. Whitley E, Ball J. Statistics review 1: presenting and summarising data. Critical care (London, England) 2002;6:66-71

13. Soyemi K. Choosing the right statistical test. Pediatrics in review 2012;33:e38-44

Attachment

Submitted filename: Response to reviewer comments.docx

Decision Letter 1

Osama Farouk

30 Nov 2020

PONE-D-20-22684R1

Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a prospective cohort study

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Hussain,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

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Osama Farouk

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #4: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

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The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #4: (No Response)

**********

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PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #4: Dear authors

Congratulations for your done valuable work. I have a short comment, it's better to add the range of age, BMI and waist circumference to table (1) as separate raws with each one under the related variable or between brackets under the related means and SD but not in a separate table. The normal distributed variables are presented as mean, SD and range (minimum and maximum), while the non parametric data are presented as median and interquartile range.

Dood luck

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Reviewer #4: Yes: Dalia G Mahran

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

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PLoS One. 2021 Jan 7;16(1):e0245002. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245002.r004

Author response to Decision Letter 1


1 Dec 2020

Response: Thank you for giving the opportunity to revise. We are submitting the revised version.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

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Response:

• We have uploaded a rebuttal letter. The file is labelled as “response to reviewers”

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Response: We want to report our financial disclosure as was reported in the cover letter when we submitted the manuscript for the first time. We have uploaded our figure 1 file in the PACE. PACE software reported “DOCX file is converted to a valid TIF file”. We are replacing the previous file with this current TIF file after downloading from PACE. Please let us know if we need to perform further modification.

Reviewer #4: Dear authors

Congratulations for your done valuable work. I have a short comment, it's better to add the range of age, BMI and waist circumference to table (1) as separate raws with each one under the related variable or between brackets under the related means and SD but not in a separate table. The normal distributed variables are presented as mean, SD and range (minimum and maximum), while the non parametric data are presented as median and interquartile range.

Dood luck

Response: As the reviewer suggested, we have added the range of age, BMI and waist circumference to table (1) between brackets under the related means.

Attachment

Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx

Decision Letter 2

Osama Farouk

21 Dec 2020

Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a prospective cohort study

PONE-D-20-22684R2

Dear Dr. Hussain,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Osama Farouk

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #4: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #4: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #4: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #4: (No Response)

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #4: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #4: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #4: No

Acceptance letter

Osama Farouk

23 Dec 2020

PONE-D-20-22684R2

Obesity defined by body mass index and waist circumference and risk of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a prospective cohort study

Dear Dr. Hussain:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Dr. Osama Farouk

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Supplementary Materials

    S1 Fig. The relationship of obesity and the confounders with total knee replacement for osteoarthritis.

    (TIF)

    S1 Table. Relationship of different definitions of obesity, and obesity status with incidence of total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

    (DOCX)

    S2 Table. Estimated population attributable fraction (PAF, %) of total knee arthroplasty in relation to different definitions of obesity.

    (DOCX)

    S1 Appendix. STATA formula for ‘punafcc’.

    (DOCX)

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: Response to reviewer comments.docx

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx

    Data Availability Statement

    All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting information files.


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