THURSDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) -- Males with previous anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury have an increased risk of full-thickness articular cartilage lesions compared to females, and the risk is increased for those males who received the injury playing team handball, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, held from July 7 to 10 in San Diego.
Jan Harald Røtterud, M.D., from the Akershus University Hospital in Lorenskog, Norway, and colleagues investigated risk factors for full-thickness articular cartilage lesions in ACL-injured knees, specifically, the role of gender, and the sport which caused the injury. Data were collected from 15,783 patients, aged 8 to 69 years, who underwent primary unilateral ACL reconstructions during 2005 and 2008.
The investigators identified 1,012 patients with full-thickness cartilage lesions, with increased odds of males having the lesion than females (odds ratio [OR], 1.22). Males playing team handball had increased odds of lesions compared to those playing soccer (OR, 2.36). No sport investigated was associated with full-thickness lesions for females. Each month that elapsed from the time of injury until ACL reconstruction increased the odds of lesions (OR, 1.006; 95 percent confidence interval 1.005 to 1.008); however, for ACL reconstructed within a year, the time from injury to surgery did not affect the odds significantly. Increased age and previous surgery increased the odds of having a full-thickness lesion (OR, 1.05 and 1.4, respectively).
"Male gender is associated with an increased risk of full-thickness articular cartilage lesions in ACL-injured knees. Male team handball had an increased risk of full-thickness lesions," the authors write.
Abstract No. 13-9975
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