SynthesisRheumatology international2019
Fatty infiltration in the thigh muscles in knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Rheumatology international, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intramuscular Fat Infiltration and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy · 2026Pooled it
- Muscle fat infiltration and its relation with pain intensity, disability, and cervical curvature in individuals with nonspecific neck pain: A systematic review study.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- Association between imbalanced lower extremity muscle quality and the development of knee osteoarthritis: a Systematic Review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Pooled it
- Meta-assembly of genomic associations to identify cattle fat depot candidate genes and pleiotropic effects.BMC genomics · 2024Pooled it
- Small-Scale Randomized Controlled Trial to Explore the Impact of β-Hydroxy-β-Methylbutyrate Plus Vitamin DNutrients · 2022Trial
- Reductions of cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors after a 14-week periodized training model in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial.Clinical rheumatology · 2021Trial
- Central adiposity is associated with poorer functional capacity in women with knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study with exploratory adjustment for pain intensity and radiographic severity.Rheumatology international · 2026Article
- Characterizing symptom burden in knee osteoarthritis: the predominant role of Kellgren-Lawrence grade 4 in functional decline and pain severity.Rheumatology international · 2026Article
- Sexual Dimorphism in Clinical Manifestations of Knee Osteoarthritis.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2026Article
- Knee extensor muscles of active older adults with knee osteoarthritis are smaller and weaker but not more fatigable than healthy older adults: Relevance to physical function.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2026Article
- Smartphone-derived joint angular velocities in sit-to-stand motion provide a spatiotemporal marker for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Functional Differences in the Affected Limbs Between CPAK Type I and Type II Patients Undergoing Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Localized bioimpedance reactance as a biophysical parameter of muscle recovery following total knee arthroplasty: a prospective self-controlled study.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Assessment of vastus medialis muscle quality in knee osteoarthritis using ultrashort echo time magnetization transfer MR imaging.Skeletal radiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Baseline loss of knee extension is associated with regional MRI progression in knee osteoarthritis: a retrospective longitudinal cohort study-data from the osteoarthritis initiative.Rheumatology international · 2025Article
- Why muscle strengthening exercises should target the quadriceps and gluteus maximus in patients with knee osteoarthritis?: Effects of knee pain on muscle volume and fatty degeneration based on AI-assisted cross-sectional analysis.Journal of orthopaedic translation · 2025Article
- Artificial intelligence-based analysis of lower limb muscle mass and fatty degeneration in patients with knee osteoarthritis and its correlation with Knee Society Score.International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery · 2025Article
- Thigh muscle features in female patients with severe knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disease, influenced by inflammatory, mechanical and metabolic processes. Current literature shows that thigh muscles of people with knee osteoarthritis can have increased infiltration of fat, both between and within the muscles (inter- and intramuscular fat). The fatty infiltration in the thigh in this population is correlated to systemic inflammation, poor physical function, and muscle impairment and leads to metabolic impairments and muscle disfunction. The objective of this study is to systematically review the literature comparing the amount of fatty infiltration between people with knee osteoarthritis and healthy controls. A literature search on the databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL SPORTDiscuss, Web of Science and Scopus from insertion to December 2018, resulted in 1035 articles, from which 7 met inclusion/exclusion criteria and were included in the review. All included studies analyzed the difference in intermuscular fat and only one study analyzed intramuscular fat. A meta-analysis (random effects model) transforming data into standardized mean difference was performed for intermuscular fat (six studies). The meta-analysis showed a standardized mean difference of 0.39 (95% confidence interval from 0.25 to 0.53), showing that people with knee osteoarthritis have more intermuscular fat than healthy controls. The single study analyzing intramuscular fat shows that people with knee osteoarthritis have more intramuscular fat fraction than healthy controls. People with knee osteoarthritis have more fatty infiltration around the thigh than people with no knee osteoarthritis. That conclusion is stronger for intermuscular fat than intramuscular fat, based on the quality and number of studies analyzed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.