Demographic and radiographic factors for knee symptoms and range of motion in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study in Beijing, China

Background Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) causes not only pain, stiffness, and dysfunction of the knee, but also the reduction of the joint range of motion (ROM).

This study explored the demographic and radiographic factors for knee symptoms and ROM in patients with symptomatic KOA.

Methods The demographic variables, Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade, and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) of patients with symptomatic KOA recruited in Beijing were collected.

The knee ROM of all patients were also measured.

We analyzed the influencing factors for WOMAC and ROM using a generalize linear model, respectively.

Results This study included a total of 2034 patients with symptomatic KOA, including 530 males (26.1%) and 1504 females (73.0%), with a mean age of 59.17 (± 10.22) years.

Patients with advanced age, overweight or obesity, a family history of KOA, a moderate-to-heavy manual labor job and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) had significantly higher WOMAC and lower ROM (all P < 0.05).

The more the comorbidities, the higher the WOMAC (all P < 0.05).

Patients with higher education had better ROM than those with only an elementary education(β = 4.905, P < 0.05).

Compared with those KL = 0/1, the WOMAC of patients whose KL = 4 were higher (β = 0.069, P < 0.05), but the WOMAC of those KL = 2 were lower (β = -0.068, P < 0.05).

ROM decreased with the increase of KL grade (all P < 0.05).

Conclusions KOA patients with advanced age, overweight or obesity, a family history of KOA in first-degree relatives, a moderate-to-heavy manual labor job tended to have more severe clinical symptoms and worse ROM.

Patients with more severe imaging lesions tend to have poorer ROM.

Symptom management measures and regular ROM screening should be taken early to these people.