Photo Credit: Lenti Hill

The following is a summary of “Association of Stair Climbing Behaviors With Hazard of All-Cause Mortality in Adults With or At Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis,” published in the February 2024 issue of Rheumatology by Jakiela et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine stair climbing difficulty and frequency’s link to 13-year all-cause mortality risk in knee Osteoarthritis (OA) adults or high-risk individuals.

They utilized data from the OA Initiative (OAI), a cohort study focusing on community-dwelling adults diagnosed with or at high risk for symptomatic knee OA. Stair climbing difficulty and frequency were determined through self-report questionnaires administered at baseline, while all-cause mortality was assessed throughout a 13-year follow-up period. The association between stair climbing exposures and all-cause mortality was examined using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression.

The results showed that 307 participants (6.81%) in the difficulty sample and 310 participants (6.84%) in the frequency sample died over the 13-year follow-up period. Individuals experiencing any limitation in their stair climbing ability had a hazard of all-cause mortality 54% to 84% greater than those without such limitations. Individuals who climbed at least 7 flights of stairs per week had a 38% lower hazard of all-cause mortality.

Investigators concluded that difficulty in climbing stairs in adults with knee OA may predict a higher risk of death, suggesting its use as an early indicator for intervention.

Source: jrheum.org/content/early/2024/01/25/jrheum.2023-0818