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Bindawas S.1, Vennu V.1
1King Saud University, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences /Physical Therapy Program, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Background: Frequent knee pain (KP) and frailty/pre-frailty are the conditions that associated with disability and other adverse outcomes. However, the association between knee pain and frailty status has not been examined thoroughly yet.
Purpose: To examine the association between frequent KP and frailty/pre-frailty among older adults.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included 4,796 subjects of baseline data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI). Frailty status was assessed according to the frailty phenotype, which comprises unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, poor energy, slow gait speed, and low physical activity. All subjects were classified into three groups: non-frailty (frailty criteria = 0), pre-frailty (frailty criteria = 1or 2), and frailty (frailty criteria ≥3). Multinomial regression analyses were used to investigate the association between frequent KP and frailty status.
Results: The prevalence rates of frailty were 4% and 31% for pre-frailty group among those with unilateral KP; and 6% and 38% among subjects with bilateral KP, respectively. The odds ratios (OR) of frailty was 1.3 [(95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.0-1.8] and pre-frailty 1.1 (95%CI = 1.0-1.3) as high among frequent KP than those with no KP. The association remained significant when separating the two groups, unilateral KP [frailty OR = 1.6, 95%CI = 1.0-2.4); pre-frailty (OR = 1.4 (95%CI = 1.1-1.6)] and bilateral KP [frailty (OR = 1.8, 95%CI = 1.2-2.8); pre-frailty (OR = 1.7 (95%CI = 1.5-2.0)].
Conclusion(s): Our results suggested that frequent KP is associated with frailty. The association was stronger with bilateral KP. Future studies are needed to examine the longitudinal relationship between knee pain and frailty status in a larger sample.
Implications: Frailty is a geriatric syndrome that leads to disability and other adverse outcomes. Older adults with knee pain are at higher risk for being frail; therefor understanding this relationship is important for physical therapists to develop preventative and therapeutic interventions.
Funding acknowledgements: The OAI is a public-private partnership comprised of five contracts funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.
Topic: Older people
Ethics approval: The Institutional Review Board for the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and its affiliates approved this study (FWA00000068).
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
