Age-related low skeletal muscle mass correlates with joint space narrowing in knee osteoarthritis in a South Korean population: a cross-sectional, case-control study

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to analyze the effects of low skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) and obesity on aging-related osteoarthritis (OA) in the Korean population. METHODS: A total of 16,601 participants who underwent a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and 3,976 subjects with knee X-rays according to the modified Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) system were enrolled. Knees of ≥KL grade 2 were classified as radiologic OA. The severity of joint space narrowing (JSN) was classified by X-rays as normal, mild-to-moderate, and severe JSN in radiologic OA. The subjects were grouped as normal SMI (SMI of ≥–1 standard deviation [SD] of the mean), low SMI class I (SMI of ≥–2 SDs and <–1 SD), and low SMI class II (SMI of <–2 SDs). Obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) of ≥27.5 kg/m(2). RESULTS: The modified KL grade and JSN severity were negatively correlated with the SMI and positively correlated with BMI and age. The SMI was negatively correlated with age. JSN severity was significantly associated with a low SMI class compared to a normal SMI, which was more prominent in low SMI class II than class I. Obesity was significantly associated with more severe JSN, only for obesity with a low SMI class. Furthermore, patients with a low SMI class, regardless of obesity, were prone to having more severe JSN. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that a low SMI class was associated with aging and that an age-related low SMI was more critically related to the severity of JSN in OA.