Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2020 Jul;72(7):1103-1110.
doi: 10.1002/art.41222. Epub 2020 May 28.

Association of Visceral Adiposity With Pain but Not Structural Osteoarthritis

Shanshan Li  1 , Ann V Schwartz  2 , Michael P LaValley  1 , Na Wang  1 , Nancy Desai  1 , Xianbang Sun  1 , Tuhina Neogi  1 , Michael Nevitt  2 , Cora E Lewis  3 , Ali Guermazi  1 , Frank Roemer  1 , Neil Segal  4 , David Felson  5 ; Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study Group
Affiliations
Observational Study

Association of Visceral Adiposity With Pain but Not Structural Osteoarthritis

Shanshan Li et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020 Jul.

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) and pain are both made more severe by low-grade inflammation. This study was undertaken to examine whether visceral fat, a major source of inflammatory cytokines and adipokines, is associated with an increased risk of knee OA or musculoskeletal pain.

Methods: Subjects in the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study cohort, who were age 50-79 years and had or were at high risk of knee OA, underwent whole-body dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at baseline. At baseline, 30 months, and 60 months radiographs and magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of the knees were obtained, and patients were asked to score the severity of their knee pain and to identify sites of joint pain using a body homunculus. Baseline DXA scans were used to measure total body fat and visceral and subcutaneous fat in the torso. The association of fat depot size with structural outcomes (incident radiographic OA and cartilage loss and synovitis on MRI) and with pain outcomes (worsening knee pain, number of painful joints, and widespread pain) was assessed. Regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, race, education level, smoking status, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), and depressive symptoms.

Results: Of the 2,961 participants at baseline, 60.7% were women. The mean age was 62.5 years and mean BMI was 30.5 kg/m2 . After adjustment for covariates, no fat measures were associated with any structural outcomes. However, total and visceral, but not subcutaneous, fat were positively associated with worsening knee pain (P = 0.0005 for total fat and P = 0.007 for visceral fat) and widespread pain (P = 0.001 for total fat and P = 0.02 for visceral fat), and the amount of visceral fat was associated with the number of painful joints (P = 0.07).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that visceral fat is associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal and widespread pain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Association between fat depots and structural outcomes
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Association between fat depots and worsening WOMAC knee pain (β)
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Association between fat depots and widespread pain (%∆N)
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Association between fat depots and number of painful joint sites (OR)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Longo M, Zatterale F, Naderi J, Parrillo L, Formisano P, Raciti GA, et al. Adipose Tissue Dysfunction as Determinant of Obesity-Associated Metabolic Complications. Int J Mol Sci. 2019;20(9). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abraham TM, Pedley A, Massaro JM, Hoffmann U, Fox CS. Association between visceral and subcutaneous adipose depots and incident cardiovascular disease risk factors. Circulation. 2015;132(17):1639–47. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ouchi N, Parker JL, Lugus JJ, Walsh K. Adipokines in inflammation and metabolic disease. Nat Rev Immunol. 2011;11(2):85–97. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yu JY, Choi WJ, Lee HS, Lee JW. Relationship between inflammatory markers and visceral obesity in obese and overweight Korean adults: An observational study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019;98(9):e14740. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berenbaum F. Osteoarthritis as an inflammatory disease (osteoarthritis is not osteoarthrosis!). Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2013;21(1):16–21. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms