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As many as 70% of people have one leg that is shorter than the other. To assess whether leg-length inequality is associated with knee osteoarthritis (OA), researchers studied a prospective cohort of 2964 adults (age range, 50–79) who had knee OA or risk factors (pain, injury, or surgery involving the knee, or obesity). All participants underwent full-limb radiography to determine leg length.
At baseline, an inequality of ≥1 cm was associated with radiographic and symptomatic OA (odds ratios, 1.9 and 2.0, respectively) in the shorter but not the longer leg, after adjustment for age, sex, height, body-mass index, and alignment. During 30 months of follow-up, a baseline inequality of ≥1 cm also was associated with new onset of symptomatic (but …