Objective: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is known to increase the risk of falling. The aim of this study was to investigate the functional status of knee in faller or non-faller female patients with knee OA.

Materials and Methods: One hundred forty-seven female patients, who were admitted to the outpatient clinic at our hospital and who were diagnosed with knee OA according to American College of Rheumatology criteria, were included in the study. Circumstances of falls in the past year and demographic features of the patient were investigated. The functional status was evaluated according to the Western Ontario and Mc Masters Osteoarthritis index (WOMAC). For statistical analysis, student’s t-test and chi-square test were used. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The mean age was 64.5±9.5 years. The percentage of the patients who had fallen before the current admission was 36%. WOMAC pain, stiffness, physical function and total scores of the patients, who had fallen before, were significantly worse than that of patients who had not (p=0.05, p=0.01, p=0.004, p=0.004). There were no significant difference between the patients who had fallen before and who had not in terms of age, radiologic grade and stand up-walk test results (p>0.05).

Conclusion: In this study, it was found that female patients with knee OA, who had fallen before the current admission, had a worse functional status as measured by WOMAC, when compared with that of female patients with knee OA without a history of falls.