Advice to improve your movement, fitness, and overall health from the world's #1 in orthopedics.
Why Women Are at Higher Risk for Getting Arthritis
Women may be more likely to develop the disease for reasons they control, and some they can’t.
Advice to improve your movement, fitness, and overall health from the world's #1 in orthopedics.
Osteoarthritis (OA), a painful condition that involves the breakdown of a joint, is not an equal-opportunity disorder: It appears to favor women, particularly after menopause. Take, for example, the occurrence of knee OA. In people 40 to 49 years old, about 10% of women and 7% of men have knee OA. Between 60 to 69 years, that prevalence rises to 35% in women and 19% in men. “There appears to be a sharp increase in osteoarthritis rates around age 50 years in women, while this increase is not seen in men,” says Jaclyn McKenna, MD, a primary sports medicine physician at HSS. “Then after about 70 years of age, the incidence of osteoarthritis becomes similar again.”
Osteoarthritis (OA), a painful condition that involves the breakdown of a joint, is not an equal-opportunity disorder: It appears to favor women, particularly after menopause. Take, for example, the occurrence of knee OA. In people 40 to 49 years old, about 10% of women and 7% of men have knee OA. Between 60 to 69 years, that prevalence rises to 35% in women and 19% in men. “There appears to be a sharp increase in osteoarthritis rates around age 50 years in women, while this increase is not seen in men,” says Jaclyn McKenna, MD, a primary sports medicine physician at HSS. “Then after about 70 years of age, the incidence of osteoarthritis becomes similar again.”
Published 3/6/2024
