Osteoarthritis of the knee: Report of a task force of the International League of Associations for Rheumatology and the Osteoarthritis Research Society

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common articular rheumatic disease. A Task Force addressed the (1) present status of osteoarthritis referable to diagnosis, outcome measures, and therapy and (2) the gaps in our knowledge and future research priorities referable to epidemiology, risk factors, prospects for prevention, basic sciences, measurable outcomes, and therapeutics. There has been dramatic improvement in our understanding of the etiopathogenesis and methods of measuring progression in OA, with a clear separation in the goals of therapy into symptom and structure modification. The future is opening to a new era of diagnostics with the prospect of altering the course of the disease.