Radiographs are commonly used for classifying OA. Kellgren and Lawrence in 1957 developed classification for OA based on radiographic findings. They graded OA by comparing the index radiograph with a reproduction in a radiographic atlas. The criteria for grading OA are related to the sequential presence of osteophytes, narrowing of the joint space and subchondral sclerosis. The criteria are based on the presence of radiological features such as, “a) the formation of osteophytes on the joint margins or, in the case of the knee joint on the tibial spine, b) a presence of periarticular ossicles, c) narrowing of the joint cartilage associated with sclerosis of the subchondral bone, d) small pseudocystic areas with sclerotic walls situated usually …show more content…
Obesity is regarded as a health problem since it is associated with numerous co-morbidities, including type-2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and some cancers (Department of Health, 2004). In recent years, statistics have suggested the existence of a global obesity ‘epidemic’ (WHO, 2000), posing a significant challenge to healthcare systems and governments over how to ‘cure’ and ‘manage’ the condition. Consequently, the trend toward increasing prevalence of obesity in older adults will lead to an increase in unhealthy life years and health-care costs (De Caria et al., 2012). This concept of the pathogenesis of obesity as a disease allows an easy division of disadvantage of obesity into those produced by the mass of fat and those produced by the metabolic effects of fat cells. In the former category are the social disabilities resulting from the stigma associated with obesity, sleep apnea that results in part from increased parapharyngeal fat deposits, and osteoarthritis resulting from the wear and tear on joints from carrying an increased mass of fat. The second category includes the metabolic factors associated with distant effects of products released from enlarged fat cells (Bray, 2004). In developed countries, the incidence of individuals with a BMI 30 kg/m2 generally increases up to the age of 60years and decreases thereafter. Energy turnover (intake, TEE, and components of TEE, such as BMR) progressively decrease with age; generally to a greater extent in those with chronic diseases. (Elia, 2001; Houston et al., 2009