KOOS Symptoms consists of 7 items, which are answered on a 4-point likert scale (0=no problems, 4=extreme problems). Scores are transformed to a 0-100 scale, with zero representing extreme knee problems and 100 representing no knee problems.

The Short Form (36) Health Survey is a 36-item, patient-reported survey of patient health. The SF-36 consists of eight scaled scores, which are the weighted sums of the questions in their section.Each scale is directly transformed into a 0-100 scale on the assumption that each question carries equal weight. The lower the score the more disability. The higher the score the less disability i.e., a score of zero is equivalent to maximum disability and a score of 100 is equivalent to no disability.

Pain measure: Scale range 0-100 with higher scores indicating worse pain

serum levels of aggrecan measured in ng/ml

serum levels of antibodies to collagen type II measured AU/ml

serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), g/l

serum levels of histamine in ng/ml

serum levels of (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, IL- 18, adiponectin, IL-10, and interferon (IFN) γ in pg/ml

serum neopterin measured in nmol/L

serum total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL measured in mmol/L

Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c)

The PHQ-9 is a multipurpose instrument for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression. It consists of nine questions with responses ranging from "0" (not at all) to "3" (nearly every day). The possible range is 0-27. Higher values represent worse outcome.

The Visual Analogue Scale for the Patient global assessment of osteoarthritis varies from 0 to 10 cm. Higher values represent worse outcomes.