Cardiovascular Health Is Associated With Walking Speed In Older Adults With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between walking speed and cardiovascular health in individuals with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (KOA). METHODS: Twenty-one participants with symptomatic KOA (11F/10M, 64 ± 8 years, 91 ± 28 kg, 171 ± 12 cm) volunteered. After providing informed consent, participants lied supine for at least 15 minutes before arterial stiffness measures. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx) data were recorded three times from carotid to femoral pulse wave and the two closest of the three recordings were averaged. Following arterial stiffness testing, participants completed a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) on a treadmill. Participants were able to stop at any point during the 6MWT and increase or decrease speed. Average speed was calculated for the duration of the 6MWT. A Shapiro-Wilk test was used to confirm that the data were normally distributed, and a Pearson r correlation was used to measure the association between arterial stiffness measures and walking speed during the 6MWT. RESULTS: Participants walked at an average speed of 0.84 ± .27 m/s. They had an average AIx of 31.3 ± 9.8 m/s and PWV of 8.82 ± 1.72 m/s. There was a significant negative correlation between walking speed and AIx (r = -.475 p = .034). There was also a significant negative correlation between walking speed and PWV (r = -.517 p = .02). There was no significant correlation between PWV and AIx (r = .044 p = .853). CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant association between walking speed and cardiovascular health, as measured by arterial stiffness in individuals with symptomatic KOA. Greater arterial stiffness is indicative of higher risk for cardiac disease. This relationship suggests that those with KOA have decreased arterial compliance. Changes in arterial stiffness may be related to decreased exercise and activity with knee pain. Decreasing cardiovascular health likely contributes to decreased function in individuals with KOA. There is a need to explore further interventions to improve function and decrease cardiovascular risk in those with KOA, which considers the symptomatic barriers KOA creates for many individuals. Supported by: AHA 24IAUST1201236