Knee symptomatic radiographic osteoarthritis (sROA) was independently associated with an increased risk of injurious falls in older men, but not in older women, according to a recent study. Using data from the Health ABC Knee Osteoarthritis Substudy, a community‐based study of white and black older adults, researchers tested associations between knee OA status and the risk of injurious falls among 734 participants with a mean (SD) age of 74.7 (2.9) years. Knee ROA was defined as having a Kellgren‐Lawrence grade of ≥2 in at least 1 knee. Knee sROA was defined as having both ROA and pain symptoms in the same knee. They found:

• The mean (SD) follow‐up time was 6.59 (3.12) years.
• Of total participants, 255 (34.7%) had an incident injurious fall over the entire study period.
• In the multivariate model, compared with those without ROA or pain, individuals with sROA (HR=1.09) did not have a significantly increased risk of injurious falls.
• Compared with men without ROA or pain, men with sROA (HR=2.57) had a significantly higher risk of injurious falls.
• No associations were found for women or by injurious fall type.