Exploration of lifestyle interventions for individuals with knee osteoarthritis: A scoping review.

Most included studies were conducted in high-income countries (Australia, US, UK, Sweden, Norway), so the findings may not generalise to low-resource settings where access to facilities, technology, and multidisciplinary teams is limited. The interventions, delivery formats, and outcome measures varied so widely across the 36 studies that direct comparison or pooling of results was not possible; the review maps the landscape rather than ranking interventions. Many of the included studies reported only short-term outcomes (weeks to a few months), so the durability of the reported benefits is unclear. Grey literature and non-English publications were excluded, introducing a potential publication bias toward positive findings from academic settings. As a scoping review, no formal quality assessment or effect-size estimation was performed; the 'effectiveness' reported reflects each individual study's own findings rather than a pooled estimate. No patients or members of the public were involved in the design, conduct, or reporting of the review.

The authors declared no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of the article. No conflicts of interest were reported.

Do not read this as 'here is the best lifestyle intervention for knee OA.' This is a scoping review that maps the landscape of 36 different studies, not a meta-analysis pooling effect sizes. The studies used different populations, different combinations of exercise, diet, education, and psychological support, and different outcome measures, so no single intervention can be identified as superior. The 'effectiveness' reported is each study's own finding, not a pooled estimate, and the heterogeneity in design and measurement means the review cannot tell you which specific programme to choose for a given patient.