Data from a study supported by the National Institute on Aging indicates obesity is probably doing a lot of cartilage damage.

As obesity is one of the few established risk factors for osteoarthritis, it is not surprising that obesity may also precede and predict rapid cartilage loss, said principal investigator Dr. Frank Roemer, an associate professor of radiology at Boston University.

Roemer and colleagues at research institutions in the U.S. and Germany assessed 336 patients from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study, a prospective trial that has enrolled more than three thousand subjects either at risk for osteoarthritis or who have been diagnosed with the condition.

According to study findings, baseline cartilage damage, tears and meniscal injuries, severe lesions, and high Body Mass Index accounted for the top risk factors contributing to rapid cartilage loss. Predictive factors also included synovitis and effusion.

Excess body weight, however, was significantly associated with an increased risk of rapid cartilage loss. No other demographic factors, including age, sex, and ethnicity, were associated with rapid cartilage loss.

Weight loss is probably the most important factor to slow disease progression.