Abstract
Objectives
To identify factors that predicted incident use of assistive walking devices (AWDs)
and to explore whether AWD use was associated with changes in osteoarthritis of the
knee.
Design
Prospective cohort study.
Setting
Community.
Participants
Older adults (N=2639) in the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study
including a subset of 874 patients with prevalent knee pain.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Incident use of AWDs, mean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis
Index (WOMAC) pain scores, and the frequency of joint space narrowing on knee radiographs
over a 3-year time period.
Results
AWD use was initiated by 9% of the entire Health ABC cohort and 12% of the knee pain
subset. Factors that predicted use in both groups were age ≥73 (entire cohort: odds
ratio [OR]=2.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43–3.01; knee pain subset: OR=1.87;
95% CI, 1.16–3.03), black race (entire cohort: OR=2.95; 95% CI, 2.09–4.16; knee pain
subset: OR=3.21; 95% CI, 2.01–5.11), and lower balance ratios (entire cohort: OR=3.18;
95% CI, 2.21–4.59; knee pain subset: OR=3.77; 95% CI, 2.34–6.07). Mean WOMAC pain
scores decreased slightly over time in both AWD and non-AWD users. Twenty percent
of non-AWD users and 28% of AWD users had radiographic progression in joint space
narrowing of the tibiofemoral joint in at least 1 knee. Fourteen percent of non-AWD
users and 12% of AWD users had radiographic progression in joint space narrowing in
the patellofemoral joint in at least 1 knee.
Conclusions
AWDs are frequently used by older adults. Knee pain and balance problems are significant
reasons why older adults initiate use of an AWD. In an exploratory analysis, there
was no consistent relation between the use or nonuse of an AWD and WOMAC pain scores
or knee joint space narrowing progression. Further studies of the relation of use
of AWDs to changes in knee osteoarthritis are needed.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
AWD (assistive walking device), BMI (body mass index), Health ABC (Health, Aging and Body Composition), JSN (joint space narrowing), NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug), OA (osteoarthritis), PF (patellofemoral), TF (tibiofemoral), WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 08, 2012
Footnotes
Supported by contract nos. NO1-AG-6-2101, NO1-AG-6-2106, and N01-AG-6-2103 and the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
