Trajectories of quality of life and associated risk factors in patients with knee osteoarthritis: findings from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

Objective Knee osteoarthritis (OA) has a significant impact on quality of life (QOL). Although QOL is generally thought to diminish over time, it is unknown if different patient groups demonstrate unique patterns of change in QOL. We sought to identify and characterize QOL trajectories in knee OA. Design This prospective cohort study included 1013 individuals with symptomatic knee OA from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. We used group-based trajectory modeling to identify distinct temporal patterns of change in the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) QOL subscale over 8 years. Baseline covariates included age, gender, ethnicity, education, comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), substance use, depression, knee pain, and functional tests. Results Group-based trajectory modeling revealed three distinct QOL trajectories: a high QOL trajectory (32% of the cohort) experiencing improvement over 8 years, and moderate (49%) and low QOL (20%) trajectories maintaining similar levels over time. Low QOL trajectory membership was significantly associated with younger age (p

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