Gender differences in patterns of cartilage loss: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

Rebecca Amesbury, Hedieh Ragati-Haghi, Alexander Mathiessen, Todd Laffaye, Rebekah I. Stein, Jamie E. Collins, C. Kent Kwoh, Jeffrey Duryea

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: Understanding gender-specific differences in patterns of cartilage loss can improve our knowledge of the pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) development and progression and may inform clinical trials of treatments for KOA. The goal of our observational study was to examine gender differences in patterns of cartilage loss in the central weight-bearing regions of the femur. Methods: We measured cartilage volume change in the indexed knee of 700 subjects with Kellgren-Lawrence 1, 2, or 3 from the Osteoarthritis Initiative for four follow-up periods (baseline [BL] to 24 mo, BL to 48 mo, BL to 72 mo, and BL to 96 mo) using the local area cartilage segmentation (LACS) method. Briefly, the LACS method uses robust coordinate systems fixed to anatomical landmarks to measure patterns of change in cartilage volume in sub-regions using responsiveness heat maps. Results: We observed a statistically significant gender difference in cartilage change in the medial femur (MF), lateral femur (LF), and medial tibia. The heat maps showed loss was primarily in the posterior central weight-bearing portion of the LF and more general in the LT and MF. Similar patterns were observed for each of the four follow-up periods. Conclusions: The LACS method was capable of illustrating gender-specific differences in patterns of cartilage loss that may offer insight into the variation of gender differences in the natural history of KOA and may be useful in evaluating the benefit of interventions for KOA.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1149-1153
Number of pages5
JournalOsteoarthritis and Cartilage
Volume32
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2024

Keywords

  • Cartilage
  • Knee osteoarthritis
  • Magnetic resonance imaging
  • Software

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Rheumatology
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

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