Osteoarthritis in patients with obesity: The bariatric surgery impacts on its evolution

Obesity is one of the main modifiable risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA). Moreover, obesity is associated with greater pain intensity and functional limitation, but also with a significantly lower responder rate to intra-articular treatments. Consequently, an arthroplasty is indicated earlier and more frequently in patients with obesity. However, pain and functional symptoms improve slightly less after arthroplasty in patients with obesity, who display higher incidence of early and late complications following prosthetic surgery. Bariatric surgery (BS) has increased worldwide and is efficient to induce major and sustainable weight-loss. Importantly, BS significantly reduces pain and functional limitation in patients with symp-tomatic knee OA. Biomarkers analysis also revealed a decrease in catabolic factors and an increase in anabolic one after BS suggesting a structural protective effect in knee OA. Nevertheless, the impact of BS prior to arthroplasty remains unclear. BS seems to decrease short-and mid-term complications such as infections or thrombosis. However, BS does not appear to modify long-term complications rate, and may even increase it, especially revisions and infections. Although few studies have compared the symp-tomatic and functional outcomes of joint replacement with or without BS, these are not significantly improved by prior BS. Despite these heterogeneous results, medico-economic studies found that BS prior to arthroplasty was cost-effective. To conclude, BS could significantly reduce the symptoms of OA and potentially slow its progression, but appears more disappointing in preventing long-term complications of arthroplasties and improving their functional results.(c) 2023 Societe franc,aise de rhumatologie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Obesity is a major modifiable risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) and is associated with poorer outcomes in terms of pain, functional limitations, and response to treatments. Bariatric surgery (BS) can significantly reduce symptoms and improve function in patients with symptomatic knee OA, but its impact on long-term complications of arthroplasties appears to be disappointing. Overall, BS shows promise in reducing OA symptoms and potentially slowing disease progression.