Have bad knees? It might be your parents' fault, according to new research.
The children of a parent with who needed a knee replacement are more likely to also suffer knee pain, a new study finds.
Total knee replacement is becoming one of the most common surgeries, with the number tripling over the last several years. The number of hip replacements, meanwhile, have doubled.
The most common cause is severe osteoarthritis (OA), which is most often blamed on obesity, but researchers also find that genetics play a key role.
Australian researchers looked at 219 people, which including 115 offspring of parents who had undergone knee replacement surgery and 104 controls, who had parents with no history of knee pain. The study included both men and women, and the average age of the participants was 48.
They found that those with a parent who had undergone knee replacement surgery had double the likelihood of developing worsening knee pain themselves over the eight-year study period.
This finding held true despite age, gender, weight or smoking history.
The participant’s knee pain was assessed at regular intervals and ranked in accordance with various activities. The researchers found significant association between parents and offspring in all pain categories except pain while walking on a flat surface or standing.
The research was reported online in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
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