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Knee Instability in Knee Osteoarthritis

Assessing its effect on falls and fractures

Publish date:: February 15, 2016

Knee instability contributes to increased risk of falls and fractures in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). This according to a study of 1,842 patients with knee OA, a mean age of 66.9 years, and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 30.3. Researchers found:

At 60 months, 18% of patients reported buckling and at 84 months 14.1% had recurrent (≥ 2) falls.

Bucklers at 60 months had a 1.6- to 2.5-fold greater odds of recurrent falls, fear of falling, and poor balance confidence at 84 months.

Patients who fell when a knee buckled at baseline had a 4.5-fold, 2-fold, and 3-fold increased odds 2 years later of recurrent falls, significant fall injuries that limited activity, respectively, and were 4 times more likely to have poor balance confidence.

Citation: Nevitt MC, Tolstykh I, Shakoor N, et al. Symptoms of knee instability are risk factors for recurrent falls. [Published online ahead of print February 8, 2016]. Arth Care Res. doi: 10.1002/acr.22811.

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