A newly published systematic review from our research group investigated the rate of knee osteoarthritis (OA) 10 years after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
The review was an update from a review published in 2009 and included 41 new cohort studies. The studies included a total of 4919 study participants aged 28 (+/-3) years at inclusion, most of them treated surgically with ACL reconstruction were studied. The prevalence of radiographic knee OA ranged from 0-100% in the studies, not differing between high and low quality studies. The prevalence of symptomatic knee OA was reported in two studies only, with a prevalence of 35% in the tibiofemoral joint and 15% in the patellofemoral joint. Meniscectomy was found to be a risk factor for OA development across several studies.
On the basis of more than 70 cohort studies with 10 years or longer follow-up of individuals with ACL injury, there is no consistent results on the prevalence of knee OA, however, suffering a meniscectomy is an important risk factor for developing knee OA.
