Epidemiological Study on the Prevalence and Severity of Knee Osteoarthritis in Geriatric Patients With Fragility Fractures of the Hip

Objective This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, severity, and association of knee osteoarthritis (OA) in patients with fragility hip fractures in the local population. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted using retrospective data from 69 patients above the age of 60 admitted to a single orthopedic geriatric trauma center from January to December 2019 for fragility hip fractures. Results The prevalence of symptomatic knee OA in the sample was 52% (n = 36) compared to the previous highest known estimate of 11% in the literature (p = 0.00 < 0.05). Among the remaining factors collected, a statistically significant positive linear correlation was found between the severity of the patient's OA with their BMI (r = 0.238, p = 0.049 < 0.05). The strength of the association was likely weak (0.0 < | r | < 0.3). An association was also found between the ipsilateral knee Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) score and the type of fracture sustained (p= 0.01 < 0.05). Using a multi-nominal logistic regression, the ipsilateral knee KL score was a statistically significant contributor to the model (p = 0.003 < 0.05). Conclusion The study showed a 41% higher prevalence of symptomatic knee OA in patients who had sustained hip fractures to those in the general population. An association between the patient's KL score and the type of fragility hip fracture sustained was also found. Clinically, more emphasis on symptomatic knee OA is necessary in the holistic management of a patient's fall risk and fragility hip fractures. Further studies should be done to quantify the association between KL scores and the type of hip fracture sustained.