Impact of knee and low back pain on health-related quality of life in Japanese women: the Research on Osteoarthritis Against Disability (ROAD)

Although knee and low back pain are major public health issues, little information is available on their impact on the quality of life (QOL). We have investigated the impact of knee and low back pain on the QOL in Japanese women by assessing the associations between knee pain and low back pain and various QOL domains using measures such as the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-8, EuroQOL, and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index. From the 3,040 Japanese women participating in the Research on Osteoarthritis Against Disability (ROAD) study, we analyzed data on 1,369 women >40 years old (mean age 68.4 years). We further examined the associations of Kellgren–Lawrence (KL) grade at the knee and lumbar spine and the presence of vertebral fracture (VFx) with the magnitude of QOL loss in women with knee pain and low back pain, respectively. Knee pain and low back pain were found to be significantly associated with lower QOL scores among the women comprising the study cohort. In women with knee pain KL = 4, knee osteoarthritis was strongly associated with the magnitude of QOL loss. For women with low back pain, no significant associations were found between KL grade and magnitude of QOL loss, while there was a moderate association between the latter and VFx.