title: Kellgren & Lawrence grade 1 osteophytes in the knee--doubtful or definite?
abstract: The most universally accepted methods of classification of radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) is the Kellgren & Lawrence (K&L) grading system. However, there have been many criticisms of this including the grading of a doubtful osteophyte as a grade 1. We report the natural history of a given prevalent grade 1 osteophyte in a 10-year follow-up knee study. 62% of women graded at baseline with a doubtful osteophyte went on to develop true osteophytic knee OA compared with only 22% of controls with no sign of disease. So called 'doubtful' osteophytes appear to be 'real' and significantly related to OA knee and therefore cannot be ignored or classified as normal.
authors.affiliation: The Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK. deborah.hart@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Spector
mesh_terms: D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D011859:Radiography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results