Prevent Disease.com - Women's Knee Cartilage May Wear Faster Than Men's



		Women's Knee Cartilage May Wear Faster Than Men's Excerpt By Amy Norton, Reuters Health NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women's knee cartilage appears to thin faster with age compared with men, even in the absence of any joint disease, a German study suggests. The reason for the gender difference is unclear, but it may have to do with physical activity levels, the study's lead author told Reuters Health. Dr. Felix Eckstein and his colleagues sought to find out how aging normally affects knee cartilage in people with healthy joints. They compared knee cartilage thickness in 30 men and women aged 50 to 78 with that of 95 men and women aged 20 to 30. The researchers also looked particularly at cartilage ''deformation''--the changes in thickness that are evident right after a person puts stress on the knee. The investigators used MRI scans to look at participants' knee cartilage thickness before and after they performed 30 deep knee bends. They found that older women had significantly thinner overall knee cartilage than younger women did. The same was true among men. But this age-related thinning was greater among women. Eckstein, of the Universitat Munchen in Munich, reported the findings in a recent issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. Regarding the sex difference, Eckstein said that a possible reason may be that older men stay more physically active, and women may see greater cartilage wearing because they are less likely to keep stimulating the knee joint with exercise. Some support for this, he added, comes from another study in which his team found smaller decreases in quadriceps-muscle size in older men compared with women. On the other hand, Eckstein noted, the effect of hormones on cartilage cell synthesis could also help explain the gender difference. The researchers also found that both elderly men and women showed less cartilage deformation after exercise than younger participants did. While this may seem counterintuitive, Eckstein explained, the finding may be due to older adults' greater cartilage stiffness. And, he and his colleagues conclude, it also suggests that osteoarthritis may not be due to increased cartilage deformation under stress, as some researchers have thought. SOURCE: Arthritis & Rheumatism 2001;44:2556-2561. Reference Source 89 For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".