Association between hip and knee osteoarthritis with falls: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

To examine the association between hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) and falls. Potentially relevant articles that examine the association between hip, knee, radiological, and self-reported OA and falls were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science up until March of 2020. The pooled risk ratios (RRs) as well as their related 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Statistic and subgroup analyses were performed. A total of 21 studies involving 146965 participants were included. No association was found between hip OA and falls. The pooled RRs value suggested a higher prevalence of falls in knee OA patients (RR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.51, P<.00001) and self-reported OA (RR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.23 to 1.45, P<.00001) than in non-OA subjects. The pooled RR value suggested no difference between prevalence of falls in radiological OA patients compared to non-OA subjects (RR=1.82, 95% CI: 0.89 to 3.73, P=.10). Both radiological and self-reported knee OA seem to be positively associated with falls, while no obvious association was found between hip OA and falls. Therefore, knee OA is a risk factor for falls which should be closely monitored.