Body composition is more closely related to the development of knee osteoarthritis in women than men: a cross-sectional study using the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-1, 2)

Summary Objective To evaluate the association between knee osteoarthritis (OA) and body composition parameters, and to analyze the correlations of both obesity and lower extremity muscle mass with radiographic knee OA in relation to sex. Methods This was a cross-sectional study using data on body composition parameters measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry in 4246 participants in the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The relationships between knee OA and body composition parameters were evaluated. The associations between knee OA and the four subgroups corresponding to obesity and muscle mass percentage in both lower extremities were analyzed separately for each sex. Results The lower extremity muscle mass showed a decreasing trend, while fat parameters showed an increasing linear trend ( P for trend