Table 1 Demographic and clinical data of participants according to their Kellgren-Lawrence grade

Number of participants

271

187

79

45

14

Age (years)

45.9 ± 13.6

57.3 ± 11.6

66.0 ± 11.4

71.9 ± 7.5

69.6 ± 9.0

< 0.001

BMI (kg/m²)

21.2 ± 3.2

22.8 ± 3.5

23.3 ± 3.8

25.3 ± 4.3

25.5 ± 5.4

< 0.001

Muscle volume (kg)

6.3 ± 0.7

6.2 ± 0.9

5.9 ± 0.8

5.9 ± 0.7

6.0 ± 0.6

< 0.001

hs-CRP (mg/dL)

0.06 ± 0.16

0.06 ± 0.13

0.06 ± 0.13

0.08 ± 0.16

0.06 ± 0.11

0.918

MMP-3 (mg/mL)

36.4 ± 18.7

37.3 ± 14.5

34.0 ± 11.9

38.1 ± 13.1

42.6 ± 12.5

0.319

IL-6 (pg/mL)

1.8 ± 6.3

1.0 ± 1.2

1.2 ± 1.1

1.2 ± 0.7

0.7 ± 0.4

0.408

HA (ng/mL)

48.6 ± 64.7

46.8 ± 49.7

45.5 ± 50.4

80.3 ± 86.0

40.7 ± 93.2

0.016