Demographic Reporting and Analysis in Gait Biomechanics of Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the leading causes of disability in the United States. Biomechanics research has expanded knowledge on knee OA presentation, progression, and treatment, with clinical practices evolving based on biomechanical discoveries. In the United States, patients with knee OA are diverse across various demographics, including age, sex, body mass index, race, and ethnicity. Given the close relationship between biomechanics research and clinical practice, it is important that biomechanical studies reflect the diverse clinical population. This scoping review evaluates the hypotheses that demographics in knee OA gait biomechanical studies are underreported and do not represent the clinical population in the United States. Research articles published between 2016 and 2024 were screened, and 58 articles were evaluated. Participant age and sex were reported in 98% of articles, while only 12% and 7% of articles reported race and ethnicity, respectively. Average study participant age and sex were representative of the clinical population. However, only a few articles reported comprehensive race and ethnicity data, so clinical comparison was inconclusive. This scoping review demonstrates the need for more comprehensive demographic reporting in knee OA gait biomechanics studies to enable a widely applicable understanding of the disease and development of optimal treatments.