The Role of Knee Alignment in Disease Progression and Functional Decline in Knee Osteoarthritis

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Abstract
Twelve percent of the US population aged 25 to 75 years has symptoms and signs of osteoarthritis (OA).1 Disability due to OA is largely a result of knee or hip involvement. The risk of disability attributable to knee OA alone is as great as that due to cardiac disease and greater than that due to any other medical condition in elderly persons.2 Knee OA also substantially increases risk of disability due to other medical conditions.3 Increased awareness of the impact of knee OA has provided impetus to accelerate development of disease-modifying agents (ie, treatments that delay OA progression).4 At present, there are no disease-modifying drugs for OA.