Relationship between atherosclerosis and knee osteoarthritis as graded by radiography and ultrasonography in females.
Ayşe Aydemir Ekim, Esra Erkol İnal, Dilek Serin Kaya and 5 others
PMID 27942107WHAT IT FOUND
Postmenopausal women with more severe knee osteoarthritis had thicker carotid artery walls than women with milder knee osteoarthritis.
The study found a link, not a cause.
Key findings
01Carotid artery wall thickness was higher in women whose knee osteoarthritis was graded as more severe by radiography and by ultrasound.
02Carotid artery wall thickness was linked with worse self-reported knee stiffness and function, more pain during motion, and higher knee osteoarthritis grades.
03Carotid artery wall thickness was linked with thinner ultrasound-measured knee cartilage.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
All participants were postmenopausal women, so the results may not apply to men or premenopausal women. The study included only patients with knee osteoarthritis and compared more severe with less severe disease, not patients without osteoarthritis. Measurements were taken at one time point, so the study cannot show whether carotid thickening came before or after knee osteoarthritis severity. No treatment was tested, and no cardiovascular events were followed, so the paper cannot tell clinicians whether acting on this association changes outcomes. The paper reports group comparisons and correlations, not an adjusted analysis for age, weight, diabetes, hypertension, or lipid values.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that knee osteoarthritis causes carotid artery wall thickening, or that carotid artery wall thickening causes knee osteoarthritis. The study measured both at one time in 70 women and reported associations, not a cause.