Association of cartilage degeneration with four year weight gain--3T MRI data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.

Summary Objective To determine the effect of weight gain on progression of early knee morphologic abnormalities using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a longitudinal study over 48 months. Design We studied the right knee of 100 subjects from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI), selecting subjects aged ≥45 with osteoarthritis (OA) risk factors who demonstrated weight gain (minimum 5% increase in body mass index, BMI, n = 50) or no change in weight (BMI change  Results The odds of worsening maximum cartilage (11.3, 95%, CI 3.5–51.4) and meniscal WORMS (4.5, 95% CI 1.4–17.3) were significantly greater in the weight gain group compared to the no change group, in addition to the odds of worsening cartilage defects at the patella and average meniscal WORMS ( P P Conclusion Our study demonstrated that weight gain is strongly associated with increased progression of cartilage degeneration in middle-aged individuals with risk factors for OA.