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Walking Habits in Knee Osteoarthritis

Associating depression with a change in steps

Publish date:: September 7, 2015

Depressive symptoms and worsening radiographic knee osteoarthritis (ROA) are associated with a decline in steps/day in adults with or at risk of knee OA. This from a study of 1,318 patients with or at risk of knee OA whose walking habits were examined at baseline and 2 years later. Researchers found:

• The number of walking steps taken daily by people with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis declined by a median 126 after 2 years.

• People with depressive symptoms at baseline walked 455 fewer steps per day.

• There was a trend for people with ROA worsening to walk 183 few steps per day.

• No other factors met statistical significance for change in daily walking.

Citation: White DK, Tudor-Locke C, Zhang Y, et al. Prospective change in daily walking over two years in older adults with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis: The MOST Study. [Published online ahead of print August 26, 2015]. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2015.08.004.

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