Improving knee osteoarthritis care for individuals with a BMI >35kg/m2

The best way to treat advanced knee arthritis in individuals with a body mass index (BMI) >35 kg/m2 is unknown. These patients are less likely to be referred for surgical arthritis treatment due to a higher risk of infection after surgery related to their higher BMI. They are advised to lose weight even though it is uncertain if weight-loss is beneficial for advanced arthritis. Further, unsupervised weight-loss could increase their risk for muscle loss and development of sarcopenic obesity (an important health condition of low muscle and low strength that negatively impacts mobility, surgical risk, and mortality). There may be better approaches to assess surgical risk in this patient group. However we first need to understand how and why BMI assessments for surgery access are used in orthopedics. This novel project will support education strategies around surgical risk assessment and improving equity and access to effective OA treatments for all patients, regardless of their body size. This work will contribute to the future development of more effective assessment strategies and personalized OA treatment approaches for this underserved patient group.

Faculty Supervisor:

Carla Prado

Student:

Partner:

Stanford University

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Alberta

Program: