Perry TA, O'Neill TW, Tolstykh I, et al. - Findings indicate that subchondral cysts are probably to be a secondary phenomenon, rather than a primary trigger, of radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA), and could be a predictor of symptoms in knees with existing disease.

• From the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (a community-based cohort of people with risk factors for knee OA), longitudinal data were obtained to analyze participants without a history of knee surgery and/or inflammatory arthritis (i.e., rheumatoid arthritis and gout) (followed up for 84 months).

• Presence of subchondral cysts was not related to incident radiographic knee OA but was linked with elevated odds of incident symptomatic radiographic knee OA (odds ratio 1.92) and elevated odds of incident frequent knee pain in participants with radiographic knee OA at baseline (odds ratio 2.11), post-adjustment for age, gender, and BMI.