Obesity is strongly associated with an increased risk of rapid cartilage loss, revealed by researchers at Boston University. The study published in the August issue of Radiology.
The researchers recruited patients from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis (MOST) Study, a prospective study of 3,026 people, age 50 79, at risk for osteoarthritis or with early x-ray evidence of the disease. The study is funded by the National Institute on Aging.
“We have isolated demographic and MRI-based risk factors for progressive cartilage loss,” said the study’s lead author, Frank W. Roemer, M.D., adjunct associate professor at Boston University and co-director of the Quantitative Imaging Center at the Department of Radiology at Boston University School of Medicine. “Increased baseline body mass index (BMI) was the only non-MRI-based predictor identified.”
Dr. Roemer’s study consisted of 347 knees in 336 patients. The patient group was comprised of 65.2 percent women, mean age 61.2, with a mean BMI of 29.5, which is classified as overweight. Recommended BMI typically ranges from 1…
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