title: Obesity and disability in the symptomatic Irish knee osteoarthritis population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a common disorder with significant social and financial implications. Obesity is the strongest modifiable risk factor of knee OA. There is little data on obesity in Irish knee OA populations and its relationship to other measures of disease severity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In Beaumont Hospital, we have been collecting data on patients presenting with knee OA as part of a screening process for potential candidates for therapeutic exercise intervention studies. Here, we present data on the first 96 candidates screened during this process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean body mass index (BMI) of the group fell within the obese range (31); indeed, only 21% had a normal BMI. The vast majority of our patients had severe self-reported disability. In contrast, the distribution of radiographic severity of knee OA was more even. There was no significant relationship between radiographic severity and disability. BMI did predict disability but had a weak correlation. Radiographic severity did not correlate with BMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Irish patients with knee OA referred for physiotherapy were very disabled, significantly obese and represent a challenging cohort of patients to treat.
authors.affiliation: Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. nicolaambrose@yahoo.ie
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Ambrose
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Keogan
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: O'Callaghan
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: O'Connell
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011859:Radiography; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires