TY - JOUR T1 - A Decline in Walking Speed is Associated with Incident Knee Replacement in Adults with and at Risk for Knee Osteoarthritis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.200176 SP - jrheum.200176 AU - Matthew S. Harkey AU - Kate L. Lapane AU - Shao-Hsien Liu AU - Grace H. Lo AU - Timothy E. McAlindon AU - Jeffrey B. Driban Y1 - 2020/06/15 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2020/06/09/jrheum.200176.abstract N2 - Objective To determine if a one-year change in walking speed is associated with receiving an incident knee replacement during the following year in adults with and at risk for knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods Using data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, we determined a one-year change in 20- meter walk speed from three observation periods (i.e., 0-12, 12-24, and 24-36 month). We operationally defined one-year change in walking speed as either: 1) decline: < -0.1 m/s change, 2) no change: between -0.1 and 0.1 m/s change, 3) increase: > 0.1 m/s change. Incident knee replacement was defined using each subsequent one-year period (i.e., 12-24, 24- 36, and 36-48 month). Combining data from the three observation periods, we performed a Poisson regression with robust error variance to determine the relative risk between a change in walking speed (exposure) and incident knee replacement over the following year (outcome). Results Of the 4,264 participants included within this analysis (11,311 total person visits), 115 (3%) adults received a knee replacement. Decline in walking speed was associated with a 104% increase in risk [adjusted relative risk (RR)=2.04; 95% confidence interval (CI)= 1.40-2.98], while an increase in walking speed associated with a 55% decrease in risk (RR=0.45; 95% CI=0.22-0.93) of incident knee replacement in the following year compared to a person with no change in walking speed. Conclusion A one-year decline in walking speed is associated with an increased risk, while one-year increase in walking speed is associated with a decreased risk of future incident knee replacement. ER -