71 TARGETED DISRUPTION AND AGING-RELATED LOSS OF THE CARTILAGE SURFACE-SPECIFIC PROTEIN HMGB2 LEADS TO EARLY ONSET OSTEOARTHRITIS

70 – Table 1. Participant characteristics No OA (N=126) OA (N=58) p-value Age (Years) 67.2±1.29 72.6±1.32 0.004 Gender (M/F) 68/58 29/29 0.616 BMI (kg/m2) 27.1±0.421 27.7±0.603 0.441 Current Knee or Hip Pain N (%) 11 (8.7%) 19 (32.8%) 0.05). Muscle CSA, fat density, and lean and fat mass did not differ between participants with self-reported OA compared to those without OA (Table 1). Conclusions: OA appears to be associated with lower middle tibia muscle density, but not with changes in lean or fat mass. The etiology and functional implications of lower muscle density in OA are currently being evaluated. This study was fully supported by the Intramural Research Program (IRP) of the National Institutes of Health,-National Institute on Aging (NIA).