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Need that Knee Replacement?

Researchers have developed a polygenic risk score for osteoarthritis that could predict whether someone might eventually need a knee or hip replacement, HealthDay News reports.

A team from Monash University in Australia developed polygenic risk scores for knee and hip osteoarthritis using risk variants identified through previous genome-wide association studies. As they report in Arthritis & Rheumatology, they calculated PRSs for more than 12,000 individuals of European ancestry to examine whether the scores were predictive of needing a knee or hip replacement. They found that individuals with high risk scores had a 44 percent increased risk of having a knee replacement and had an 88 percent increased risk of having a hip replacement, as compared to individuals with low risk scores.

Study author Flavia Cicuttini from Monash tells Australia's 9News that between 20 and 30 percent of people who undergo knee replacements are not satisfied with them. The scores could, in addition to identifying people who may need to take steps to try to stave off osteoarthritis, could help determine when surgery is absolutely necessary, it reports.

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