March 29, 2024

Obese people need joint replacements before seven years

Obese people need joint replacements before seven years

/ SciePro, stock.adobe.com

Brisbane – The extra weight that overweight people put on their knee joints is the single most important risk factor for osteoarthritis of the knee.

According to a study, obese people need ANZ Journal of Surgery (2022; DOI: 10.1111 / ans.17689) Not only is the knee joint often replaced. Operations are also required for them at an early age.

More than half of Australians who require knee replacements due to osteoarthritis of the knee are obese. The proportion is much higher than in the general population (57.7% vs 37.4%), illustrating the importance of the risk factor for obesity, which is particularly seen in osteoarthritis of the knee, in which the knee joints have to carry and move nearly the entire body weight.

Surgeon Christopher Wall of Toowoomba Hospital, affiliated with the University of Queensland in Brisbane, notes that an unusually high number of young adults need a new knee joint. Comparison of the patient’s record”Australian Orthopedic AssociationHe confirmed, “through the” National Health Survey “this impression.

The proportion of obese patients was particularly high in the 45-54 age group. Women were affected more than men. In the case of grade 1 obesity (BMI 30 to 35), Wall calculates that women have a 7.5 times greater risk of knee replacement. In men, the risk increased by a factor of 3.2.

For class II obesity (BMI 35-40), the relative risk was 12.2 for women and 5.4 for men. Women aged 45-54 years with class III obesity (BMI above 40) required total knee arthroplasty 24.9 times more often than women of normal weight of the same age. In men with grade III obesity, the risk was increased by 7.0.

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By contrast, the risk of obesity in men and women with grade III obesity aged between 75 and 84 was slightly increased (relative risk 2.2 and 1.5, respectively, compared to people of normal weight).

The median age at surgery was 71.3 years for women of normal weight. In obesity of the first degree, the operation became necessary at the age of 68.5 years, in obesity of the second degree at 66.5 years, and in obesity of the third degree at 64.1 years. Therefore, women with grade III obesity required joint replacement 7.2 years ago.

For men, the difference was 7.3 years: with grade 3 obesity, the operation was performed at 63.7 years compared to 71.0 years with a normal weight.

British orthopedists came to a similar conclusion. Nicholas Clement and Associates have investigated Journal of Orthopedic Research (2020; DOI: 10.1002 / jor.24460For grade 3 obesity, 4.7 years, 6.7 years and 10.5 years prior to knee replacement (for both sexes). There, an earlier time point for total hip replacement of 3.1 years, 5.2 years and 7.4 years was observed for three degrees of obesity. © rme / aerzteblatt.de