@article {Christiansenjrheum.190876, author = {Meredith B. Christiansen and Louise M. Thoma and Hiral Master and Dana Voinier and Daniel K. White}, title = {The Association of an Increasing Waist Circumference and Risk of Incident Low Physical Function in Adults with Knee Osteoarthritis}, elocation-id = {jrheum.190876}, year = {2020}, doi = {10.3899/jrheum.190876}, publisher = {The Journal of Rheumatology}, abstract = {Objective To investigate an eight-year change in waist circumference (WC) with the risk of incident low physical function over one-year in adults with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) were used. Change in WC was measured from study enrollment (0-month) to the 96-month visit and classified as Increase (>= 5cm gain) or Maintain (\< 5cm gain). We identified WHO risk category based on WC at study enrollment as Large WC (males >= 102cm, females >= 88cm) or Small WC (males \< 102cm, females \< 88cm). The outcome was incident low physical function (>= 28 WOMAC physical function subscale) at the 108-month visit. To investigate the association of the 8-year change in WC with the risk of low physical function, we calculated risk ratios 95\% confidence intervals [95\%CI and adjusted for potential confounders. We repeated the analyses stratified by the WHO disease risk category. Results The Increase WC group had 1.43 [1.04, 1.96] times the risk of incident low physical function compared to adults in the Maintain WC group. Adults with a Large at baseline WC, who increased WC, had 1.55 [1.00, 2.37] times the risk of incident low physical function compared to those who maintained WC. Adults with a Small WC at baseline, who increased WC, had 1.97 [0.84, 4.63] times the risk compared to the who maintained WC. Conclusion Increasing WC increases the risk of incident low physical function in the following year. Maintaining WC may mitigate developing low physical function.}, issn = {0315-162X}, URL = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2020/03/09/jrheum.190876}, eprint = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2020/03/09/jrheum.190876.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Rheumatology} }