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Diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis (OA) is based primarily on history, physical examination, and radiography. In this study, U.S. investigators sought to determine the spectrum of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities in 710 randomly selected people (age, >50; mean age, 62) without radiographic evidence for knee OA and without regard for presence of knee pain.
Twenty-nine percent of participants reported knee pain within the past month. All participants underwent knee MRI. The prevalence of any MRI abnormality was 89%: The most common abnormalities were osteophytes (74%), cartilage damage (69%), and bone marrow lesions (52%). Meniscal lesions were significantly more common in men than in women. Older participants exhibited more abnorm…