The Effect of Weight Loss and Exercise on Knee Osteoarthritis

September 22, 2017 updated by: Johns Hopkins University

The Impact of Weight Loss and Exercise on Knee Osteoarthritis

This study will evaluate whether a program of weight loss and exercise can help individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Knee OA is a major public health challenge affecting millions of people in the United States. Obesity is a primary target for intervention since it accounts for up to 30% of knee OA, exacerbates symptoms, and is associated with bilateral involvement and more rapid progression of the disease. While the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Practice Guidelines recommend modest weight loss as symptomatic therapy, no published clinical trials have investigated the impact of weight loss on knee OA.

Physical activity has also been associated with pain reduction and increased mobility in individuals with knee OA and the ACR Practice Guidelines indicate that it should be included in treatment. Exercise may be especially helpful for overweight persons with knee OA as it is a potent predictor of weight loss maintenance. Though adherence to traditional exercise programs has been poor, adopting lifestyles in which exercise is accumulated throughout the day appears to be a promising new approach to physical activity. Lifestyle exercise may enhance exercise adherence by increasing options to be active and reducing time barriers. Episodic physical activity may also be preferable to continuous exercise by reducing pain and avoiding injury. The primary objective of this proposal is to evaluate the impact of weight loss and lifestyle exercise on knee osteoarthritis.

Participants will be randomly assigned to either a behavioral weight loss and exercise program or a delayed intervention group. Participants in the behavioral weight loss and exercise group will attend weekly group meetings at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for 16 weeks. Group meetings last about 1 hour and are led by health care professionals. Participants will be taught how to lose weight and keep weight off by changing what they eat and evaluating their lifestyle. Participants will be instructed on a safe and effective diet plan (1200 calories/day for women; 1500 calories/day for men) and will be asked to increase their physical activity to about 30 minutes per day of brisk walking, most days of the week. After the 16-week program, groups will continue to meet every three months for 1 year to help sustain lifestyle changes.

The delayed intervention group will receive the program described above after a 4-month waiting period.

The primary outcome measure will be knee pain. Secondary measures include physical disability, quality of life, performance measures, and long-term adherence to behavior change.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

160

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21224
        • Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

19 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria

  • Knee arthritis
  • Pain on > 50 % of days in the month in one or both knees
  • Difficulty with activities of daily living due to knee pain
  • X-ray documenting knee OA within 1 year prior to study entry
  • 15 lbs to 50 lbs overweight

Exclusion Criteria

  • Significant cardiac, pulmonary, renal, or hepatic disease
  • Major psychiatric disease
  • ACR functional class IV
  • Structured exercise more than once per week for 20 minutes or longer during the 3 months prior to study entry
  • Anticipates moving from the area within 18 months of study entry
  • Anticipates undergoing knee surgery within 1 year of study entry
  • Weight loss of more than 5 kg (11 lbs) in 3 months prior to study entry
  • Anorexiant or other medications known to affect metabolism
  • Current or planned pregnancy

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
16 weekly educational meetings
Behavioral: Behavioral weight control and lifestyle exercise
16 weekly educational meetings vs. waitlist control
No Intervention: 2
Wait list control

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Pain
Time Frame: 4 months and 16 months
4 months and 16 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Johns Hopkins University

Collaborators

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Susan J. Bartlett, MD, Johns Hopkins University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 1, 2002

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 28, 2003

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 28, 2003

First Posted (Estimate)

May 29, 2003

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 26, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 22, 2017

Last Verified

September 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • K23AR002160 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • NIAMS-080

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Osteoarthritis, Knee

Clinical Trials on Behavioral weight control and lifestyle exercise

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Uruguay

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe