Objective

Most guidelines recommending weight loss for hip osteoarthritis are based on research on knee osteoarthritis. Prior studies found no association between weight loss and hip osteoarthritis, but no previous studies have targeted older adults. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether there is any clear benefit of weight loss for radiographic hip osteoarthritis in older adults because weight loss is associated with health risks in older adults.

Methods

We used data from white female participants aged ≥65 years from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Our exposure of interest was weight change from baseline to follow-up at 8 years. Our outcomes were the development of radiographic hip osteoarthritis (RHOA) and the progression of RHOA over 8 years. Generalized estimating equations (clustering of 2 hips per participant) were used to investigate the association between exposure and outcomes adjusted for major covariates.

Results

There was a total of 11,018 hips from 5509 participants. There was no associated benefit of weight loss for either of our outcomes. The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the development and progression of RHOA were 0.99 (0.92-1.07) and 0.97 (0.86-1.09) for each 5% weight loss, respectively. The results were consistent in sensitivity analyses where participants were limited to those who reported trying to lose weight and who also had a body mass index in the overweight or obese range.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest no associated benefit of weight loss in older female adults in the structure of the hip joint as assessed by radiography.