Bicycling over a Lifetime Is Associated with Less Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

Grace H Lo; Michael J Richard; Andrea M Kriska; Timothy E McAlindon; Matthew Harkey; Bonny Rockette-Wagner; Charles B Eaton; Marc C Hochberg; C Kent Kwoh; Michael C Nevitt; Preeya B Bhakta; Colin P McLaughlin; Jeffrey B Driban

doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003449

Bicycling over a Lifetime Is Associated with Less Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2024 Apr 11. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003449. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, & Immunology, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA.
² Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
³ Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
⁴ Department of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
⁵ University of Arizona Arthritis Center, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
⁷ Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
⁸ Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA.

PMID: 38600648
DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003449

Abstract

Introduction: To evaluate the relationship between a history of bicycling and symptomatic and structural outcomes of knee osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis.

Methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study within the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI), where we investigated OAI participants with complete data on bicycling, knee pain, and radiographic evidence of knee OA. We used a self-administered questionnaire at the 96-month OAI visit to identify participation in bicycling during four time periods throughout a participant's lifetime (ages 12-18, 19-34, 35-49, and > 50 years old). Using logistic regression, we evaluated the influence of prior bicycling status (any history, history for each time period, number of periods cycling) on three outcomes at the 48-month OAI visit: frequent knee pain, radiographic OA (ROA), and symptomatic radiographic OA (SOA), adjusting for age and gender.

Results: 2607 participants were included; 44.2% were male; mean age was 64.3 (SD 9.0) years; body mass index was 28.5 (SD 4.9) kg/m 2 . The adjusted risk ratio for the outcome of frequent knee pain, ROA, and SOA among those who reported any history of bicycling compared to non-bicyclers was 0.83 (0.73-0.92), 0.91 (0.85-0.98), and 0.79 (0.68-0.90), respectively. We observed a dose-response among those who participated in bicycling during more time periods.

Conclusions: People who participated in bicycling had a lower prevalence of frequent knee pain, ROA, and SOA. The benefit appeared cumulative. This study indicates that bicycling may be favorable to knee health and should be encouraged.