The risk of all-cause mortality appears to be elevated in adults with or at high risk for knee osteoarthritis (OR) who have difficulty climbing stairs or who seldom use the stairs.
Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI), a prospective cohort study of community-dwelling adults with or at high risk for symptomatic knee OA, were used in the present analysis. Exposures included stair climbing difficulty and frequency, assessed at baseline using self-report questionnaires. All-cause mortality, assessed from baseline through 13 years of follow-up, was the primary outcome.
The authors used Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression to explore the relationship between all-cause mortality and stair climbing exposures.
In total, 307 (6.81 percent) participants in the difficulty cohort and 310 (6.84 percent) in the frequency cohort died during follow-up. Individuals with limitations in any capacity in their ability to climb stairs showed a 54-percent to 84-percent increased risk of all-cause mortality. In contrast, those who climbed at least seven flights of stairs per week showed a 38-percent reduced risk of death.
“Stair climbing difficulty and frequency are simple to collect and changes may occur early in OA progression, allowing for early intervention,” the authors said. “Brief questions about stair climbing behaviours can serve as a functional vital sign within the clinician’s toolbox.”