Flavia Cicuttini

Monash University (Australia) · School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Objectives: To describe the associations between OA-related biochemical markers and knee symptoms in middle-aged adults followed up over 10-13 years. Methods: Blood samples were collected during the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH)-1 study (year: 2004-06) and 10-13 year follow-up at CDAH-3. Serum samples from baseline (n=156) and follo...

Background Back pain poses a significant global burden, within which individuals with more severe symptoms consume higher healthcare expenses than those with lesser back pain. Whether measures of body composition predict high‐intensity back pain and/or high‐disability in population‐based cohorts is unknown. This study aimed to examine the associati...

Background Chronic musculoskeletal pain often co‐occurs with Parkinson's disease (PD); however, whether individuals with chronic pain have a higher risk of developing PD is unclear. Objectives To investigate the associations between chronic pain and incident risk of three neurodegenerative parkinsonism categories including PD, multiple system atro...

Introduction Musculoskeletal pain typically occurs in multiple sites; however, no study has examined whether excessive visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue are associated with musculoskeletal pain. This study therefore aimed to describe the associations between MRI-derived abdominal adipose tissue and multisite and widespread chronic musculoske...

Abstract Objective To determine the reliability and agreement of manual and automated morphological measurements, and agreement in morphological diagnoses. Methods Thirty pelvic radiographs were randomly selected from the World COACH consortium. Manual and automated measurements of acetabular depth-width ratio (ADR), modified acetabular index (mAI...

Objectives To assess the safety and efficacy of an allogeneic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell preparation (MAG200) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis over 12 months. Design A single-centre, double-blind, ascending dose, randomised controlled trial. 40 participants with moderate knee osteoarthritis were randomised to receive a single int...

Objective To examine the association between medial meniscal extrusion and structural progression in adults with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods This prospective cohort study examined 176 participants with symptomatic knee OA recruited into a randomised controlled trial. The participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of...

Although patients believe osteoporosis is a painful condition, health professionals assume it is painless unless a fracture occurs. The association between bone mineral density (BMD) and back-pain has not been examined longitudinally in community-based adults in an unbiased population, using gold standard measures. This study aimed to examine the a...

Background Bone fracture is a major public health concern, with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) as a major risk factor. While the interplay between lipid metabolism and bone health has been suggested, comprehensive investigation of systemic lipidomics integrated with genetic analysis to determine the causal alterations in lipid metabolites ass...

Importance Knee osteoarthritis is disabling, with few effective treatments. Preliminary evidence suggested that krill oil supplementation improved knee pain, but effects on knee osteoarthritis remain unclear. Objective To evaluate efficacy of krill oil supplementation, compared with placebo, on knee pain in people with knee osteoarthritis who have...

Purpose Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of pain and disability worldwide. Lack of effective therapies may reflect poor knowledge on its aetiology and risk factors, and result in the management of end-stage hip OA with costly joint replacement. The Worldwide Collaboration on OsteoArthritis prediCtion for the Hip (World COACH) consortium was...

Objective To determine the effect of zoledronic acid (ZA) on the risk of total knee replacement (TKR) in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and without severe joint space narrowing (JSN). Methods We included 222 participants (mean age 62 years, 52% female) from the two‐year Zoledronic Acid for Osteoarthritis Knee Pain trial (113 receive...

Objective To determine whether the dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores were associated with knee structural changes and pain over a 10.7‐year follow‐up. Methods This study used data from a prospective population‐based cohort study (mean age 63 years, 51% female) in which 1,099, 875, 768, and 566 participants completed assessments at baseline,...

Introduction: The data is limit for the association between osteoarthritis (OA) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in community-based older populations and whether there is sex difference. This study aimed to examine the relationship between OA and prevalence and incidence of CVD over 10 years in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Data on s...

Objective The objective of this study is to investigate whether quantitatively measured infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) signal intensity alteration is associated with joint effusion-synovitis in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA) over two years. Methods Among 255 knee OA patients, IPFP signal intensity alteration represented by four measurement par...

Introduction Over half of the populations with knee osteoarthritis (OA) have obesity. These individuals have many other shared metabolic risk factors. Metformin is a safe, inexpensive, well-tolerated drug that has pleiotropic effects, including structural protection, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects in OA, specifically the knee. The aim of t...

Objective Although negative back beliefs are associated with high-intensity low back pain (LBP)/disability, whether they influence incident high-intensity LBP/high-disability over the long-term is unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether negative back beliefs were associated with developing high-intensity LBP and/or high-disability over 10...

Objective To investigate the variation in the distribution and the natural history of hand pain over 6 weeks in individuals with symptomatic hand osteoarthritis. Design Patient-reported outcome data were collected at baseline and weekly for 6 weeks from community-based participants enrolled in a randomised controlled trial. Participants were group...

Obesity is the major modifiable risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA). A major focus of management in OA is weight loss. Although we live in an obesogenic environment, obesity has a predominantly genetic and epigenetic basis. This explains a person's weight set point which is defended by biological mechanisms making weight loss difficult to achieve a...

Background Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in adults, characterised by chronic pain and loss of mobility. Osteoarthritis most frequently occurs after age 40 years and prevalence increases steeply with age. WHO has designated 2021–30 the decade of healthy ageing, which highlights the need to address diseases such as osteoarthriti...

Objectives: This study aimed at systematically review the evidence for the efficacy of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) inhibitors on symptoms and structural outcomes in hand osteoarthritis. Methods: Three databases were searched for randomized controlled trials examining the efficacy of TNF inhibitors in hand osteoarthritis. Two authors extracted da...

Background: There is increasing use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) alone or as an adjuvant therapy to conventional medicines in osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Objectives: This study aimed to describe the prevalence and correlates of the use of CAMs among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Data from the Tasmania Older A...

Objective: To examine the efficacy and safety of topical corticosteroid over 6 weeks in patients with symptomatic hand osteoarthritis. Design: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, community-based participants with hand osteoarthritis were randomly assigned (1:1) to topical Diprosone OV (betamethasone dipropionate 0.5 mg/g in...

Background Hand osteoarthritis (OA) with synovitis is a common clinically identifiable phenotype which is associated with pain and disease progression. Methotrexate is a low-cost, well-established and effective treatment for inflammatory arthritis with a well-described safety profile. A previous randomized controlled trial showed no superiority of...

Background Anti-melanoma-differentiation-associated gene-5 antibody (MDA5) associated dermatomyositis is associated with rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease (RP-ILD), high mortality, and progression despite aggressive immunosuppression. Extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), as bridge to recovery or bridge to transplantation and lun...

Background Low back pain is highly prevalent and the main cause of years lived with disability (YLDs). We present the most up-to-date global, regional, and national data on prevalence and YLDs for low back pain from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021. Methods Population-based studies from 1980 to 2019 identified i...

Background: Low back pain is highly prevalent and the main cause of years lived with disability (YLDs). We present the most up-to-date global, regional, and national data on prevalence and YLDs for low back pain from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021. Methods: Population-based studies from 1980 to 2019 identified...

Objectives Describe associations between MRI markers with knee symptoms in young adults. Methods Knee symptoms assessed using WOMAC scale during Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH)-knee study (year : 2008–10) and 6–9 year follow-up (CDAH-3; year : 2014–2019). Knee MRI scans, obtained at baseline, assessed for morphological markers (carti...

Objective To determine whether neuropathic pain is a feature of first metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint osteoarthritis (OA). Methods A total of 98 participants (mean ± SD age 57.4 ± 10.3 years) with symptomatic radiographic first MTP joint OA completed the PainDETECT questionnaire (PD‐Q), which has 9 questions regarding the intensity and quality of...

Background Knee replacements are increasingly performed in older adults but uncertainty remains regarding their benefits in the context of age-related decline in physical function and other comorbidities. This study aimed to examine (1) the effect of knee replacement on functional outcomes in the context of age-related decline in physical function...

Importance: The association between weight change and subsequent cause-specific mortality among older adults is not well described. The significance of changes in waist circumference (WC) has also not been compared with weight change for this purpose. Objective: To examine the associations of changes in body weight and WC with all-cause and caus...

Background: Although remaining physically active is the cornerstone of management for low back pain, our understanding of the physical activity performed by those with back pain is limited. Objectives: To examine the physical activity reported by individuals with different levels of low back pain and disability across key activity domains. Desi...

Objective To investigate associations of dietary vitamin K intake with changes in knee symptoms and structures in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods Participants with symptomatic knee OA were enrolled (n = 259) and followed up for 2 years (n = 212). Baseline dietary vitamin K intake was calculated from a validated food frequency quest...

A previous systematic review showed positive patient-reported outcomes following total knee replacement (TKR) in patients aged < 65 years. However, the question remains as to whether these results are replicated for older individuals. This systematic review evaluated the patient-reported outcomes following TKR in individuals aged ≥ 65 years. A syst...

Access the full text version of the article here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(23)00098-X/fulltext

Objectives Studies have identified increased cancer risk among patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) compared to the general population. However, evidence of all-cause and site-specific cancer risk associated with different bearing surfaces has varied, with previous studies having short latency periods with respect to use of modern Metal...

Objective Although weight loss is recommended to manage knee osteoarthritis (KOA), adults tend to gain weight with age which may affect KOA symptoms and progression. We conducted a systematic review and data synthesis to investigate the association between weight gain and KOA, defined by clinical features, structural progression, and total knee rep...

Background: Although pain is common in osteoarthritis, most people fail to achieve adequate analgesia. Increasing acknowledgement of the contribution of pain sensitisation has resulted in the investigation of medications affecting pain processing with central effects. Antidepressants contribute to pain management in other conditions where pain sen...

Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods are widely used for data collection and monitoring in healthcare but their uptake clinically has been limited. Low back pain, a condition with limited effective treatments, has the potential to benefit from EMA. This study aimed to (i) determine the feasibility of collecting pain and fu...

Background Subchondral bone plays an important role in the pathogenesis of radiographic osteoarthritis (OA). However, the bony changes that occur in hand OA (HOA) are much less understood. This study aimed to describe the association between radiographic HOA and high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HRpQCT) measures of the ha...

Background Knee osteoarthritis is the most prevalent chronic musculoskeletal debilitating disease. Current treatments are only symptomatic, and to improve this, we need a robust prediction model to stratify patients at an early stage according to the risk of joint structure disease progression. Some genetic factors, including single nucleotide poly...

Background There is an unmet need for treatments for knee osteoarthritis (OA). Effusion-synovitis is a common inflammatory phenotype of knee OA and predicts knee pain and structural degradation. Anti-inflammatory therapies, such as diacerein, may be effective for this phenotype. While diacerein is recommended for alleviating pain in OA patients, ev...

Aims To investigate whether the associations between cartilage defects and cartilage volumes with changes in knee symptoms were mediated by osteophytes. Methods Data from the Vitamin D Effects on Osteoarthritis (VIDEO) study were analyzed as a cohort. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index was used to assess knee sympto...

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common joint disease in the elderly, has no cure. Macroelements are vital in human health and their relationships with OA are not clear. Clarifying the relationships between macroelements and OA may assist knee OA management. Methods: This study was a post-hoc analysis using data from a two-year randomiz...

Uncertainty remains regarding the benefit of hip replacement in older adults in the context of age-related decline in physical function. This study aimed to examine the effect of hip replacement on functional outcomes and identify factors associated with clinically important improvement in physical function postoperatively in community-dwelling old...

Objective: Populations with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, due to higher prevalence of risk factors including dyslipidaemia, where statins are commonly prescribed. However, the effect of statins on muscles and symptoms in this population is unknown. Thus, this study examined the effect of atorvastatin on...

Objective There is increasing evidence for the involvement of vascular disease in the pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis. Popliteal artery wall thickness can be used as a surrogate marker of atherosclerosis. We examined the association between popliteal artery wall thickness and knee cartilage volume in individuals with symptomatic knee osteoarthr...

Objective While targeting obesity is central to osteoarthritis management, recent meta-analyses demonstrate only modest effects of weight loss on symptoms, and little on structure. The World Health Organisation recommends that effective management of obesity include prevention of weight gain, weight maintenance and weight loss. Therefore, we system...

Objective Prevention of osteoarthritis (OA) remains important, as there are no disease‐modifying treatments. A personalized approach has the potential to better target prevention strategies. In the present study, we used recently identified genetic risk variants from genome‐wide association analysis for advanced OA to calculate polygenic risk score...

Background There is some evidence that corticosteroids may have a beneficial effect in hand osteoarthritis. We examined the efficacy of corticosteroids on symptoms and structural outcomes in hand osteoarthritis. Methods Ovid MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to October 2021 for randomiz...

Objective To examine the effects of shoe‐stiffening inserts on lower extremity kinematics in individuals with first metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint osteoarthritis (OA). Methods Forty‐eight individuals with radiographically confirmed first MTP joint OA (24 male and 24 female; mean ± SD age 57.8 ± 10.5 years) were randomized to receive either shoe‐s...