An expert task force convened by the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) has started the process of consolidating classification criteria for early-stage knee osteoarthritis (OA).
Dr Gillian Hawker
"Early-stage knee OA classification criteria, we believe are critically required," Gillian Hawker, MD, MSc, said at the OARSI 2022 World Congress.
Hawker, who is the chair of the Task Force Steering Committee, noted that classification criteria are needed for several reasons, such as "to advance OA therapeutics and [the] earlier identification of people with knee OA who can benefit from existing treatments."
Moreover, they are needed so that people with knee OA can "be poised and ready to receive available therapies once we develop them," said Hawker, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a senior clinician-scientist in the Women's College Research Institute at Women's College Hospital in Toronto.
Reasoning for Looking at Early OA
"Osteoarthritis is a very serious disease with a growing population burden," Hawker reminded delegates at the congress. Yet despite "amazing advances" in the understanding of the pathophysiology of disease and several potential druggable targets being identified, "we still have no safe and effective interventions to prevent or slow the progression of the disease."
"Why have all the DMOADs [disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs] failed?" she questioned.
