The relationship between osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA) is yet unclear.
To evaluate the possible effect of OP on the femoral cartilage thickness in female patients with knee OA.
Eighty patients with a diagnosis of knee OA were enrolled. Forty subjects who also had OP comprised Group I and the remaining 40 OA subjects comprised Group II. Antero-posterior knee radiographs were obtained in standing position and they were evaluated according to Kelgren-Lawrence (K-L) grading scale. Femoral cartilage evaluations were performed using a linear array US probe (7-12 MHz). In addition, ultrasonographic femoral cartilage grading was also performed for each knee.
Left knee scores pertaining to both gradings were found to be lower (p = 0.02, p = 0.04, respectively) in Group I when compared with those of Group II. The two grading scores were positively correlated for both knees-statistically significant only for the right side (r = 0.727, p = 0.01). No significant difference was found between the groups in terms of femoral cartilage thicknesses (all p > 0.05).
Ultrasonographic and roentgenographic gradings were consistent and patients with OP had lower scores for both gradings. On the other hand, the presence of OP did not seem to have any effect on cartilage thickness measurements.
To the best knowledge of the authors, this study is the first to have explored the impact of OP on OA using US in the literature.