By IANS,
New York : Obese men – but not women – are more prone to osteoarthritis of both hip and knee and may require hip replacement, according to a new study.
Researchers compared the body mass indexes of 1,473 people who had undergone hip or knee replacement with those of 1,103 normal people.
They found that overweight women were no more likely to have had a hip replacement than women of normal weight, but men were. Men who were obese were 70 percent more likely to have had hip replacement surgery.
Overweight people of both sexes were much more likely to have had knee replacement surgery with the risk increasing in proportion to the weight.
Men who were obese were five times more likely to have had a replacement knee and women four times more likely.
“The study supports a positive association between high BMI and total knee replacement in both sexes, but for total hip replacement the association with BMI seems to be weaker, and possibly negligible for women,” the study said.
The study has been published online in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.