Knee Osteoarthritis pain prediction from X-ray imaging: Data from Osteoarthritis Initiative

Joint pain is the most important clinical and debilitating feature of Osteoarthritis (OA). Joint pain is a late manifestation of osteoarthritis whose early symptoms include changes in joint structures, such as the formation of bony osteophytes, cartilage degradation and joint space reduction, among others. Although Joint space reduction and osteophyte formation are clearly symptoms of radiological OA, the association of those early features of OA with late joint pain has not been clearly found. The objective of this study is to do an association study of the many variables that are commonly explored in a radiological evaluation with the future pain presence. A case-control study was done using available public data from participants of Osteoarthritis Initiative Study (OAI). Two different radiological scores were used, a quantitative score and a semi quantitative score, the radiological data were analyzed by two different groups of radiologists. A univariate logistic regression test was performed in the data sets in order to define which variables are associated with future pain. Results indicate that early bone osteophytes are early predictors of joint pain, while the joint space reduction is not clearly associated with future joint pain. The results of this study indicate that plain radiographs can be used to predict which subjects will develop future osteoarthritis pain.