Potential Risk Factors and Physical Functioning of Women with Knee Osteoarthritis

Background: Knee osteoarthritis is a common musculoskeletal condition that has a severe effect on physical functioning, especially in women that are above the age of 40, causing chronic pain, stiffness in the joints, loss of mobility, which worsens overall quality of life, resulting in many individuals being incapable of performing normal daily tasks, among other ways and increased dependency.Objectives: The study aims to identify frequency and possible risk factors of Knee osteoarthritis and Physical Functioning of women aged 40 years and over.Methods: The study is a cross-sectional analytical study that was carried out at the University of Lahore Teaching Hospital on 350 women aged 40 years and above using non-probability convenience sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data through the collection of demographic data, risk factors, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC-34) to measure physical functioning. The research time was between August 2024 and January 2025. The statistical analysis was conducted in SPSS Version 25.0 with the help of chi square to access the association of different risk factors and t-tests to determine the physical functioning of the two groups. The p-value of less than 0.05 was deemed to be significant.Results: The findings revealed that knee osteoarthritis was diagnosed in 30.3 percent of the study participants with significant correlations between knee osteoarthritis and age greater than 40 years (p=0.015), hand osteoarthritis (p=0.033), and estrogen deficiency (p=0.004), BMI, and strenuousness of work (p=0.001). Knee OA women had a higher score on WOMAC which indicated more pain, stiffness and less physical functionality. Also, a high value (p=0.001) was found between knee OA and the physical activity levels, where the low level of physical activity was associated with the high prevalence of OA.Conclusion: The study identifies increased age and modifiable risk factors like high BMI, estrogen deficiency, hand osteoarthritis, and physically demanding work as significant risk factors for knee OA in women. An increased physical activity to enhance functional outcome in knee oa women can be achieved by promoting regular and joint-friendly physical activity that has the potential to considerably better pain, stiffness, and overall physical functioning in affected women.