The Osteoarthritis Initiative: A Knee Health Study

The Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) is a nationwide multicenter, longitudinal, prospective observational study of knee osteoarthritis (OA). This Initiative is a public-private partnership between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and private industry that seeks to improve diagnosis and monitoring of osteoarthritis (OA) and foster development of new treatments. The overall aim of the OAI is to develop a public-domain research resource to facilitate the scientific evaluation of biomarkers for osteoarthritis as potential surrogate endpoints for disease onset and progression.

Collaborators

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) lead this initiative at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Other public partners in the Osteoarthritis Initiative at the NIH include the Office of Research on Women’s Health, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The National Center for Research Resources, the Office of Technology Transfer, the Office of the General Counsel, and the Office of Science Policy have also played pivotal roles in the establishment of this initiative. Another Department of Health and Human Services component involved is the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research of the Food and Drug Administration.