Anecdotal evidence only, but I tend to agree based on personal experience, especially when done to excess. About 3 years ago I did a lot of stairs for sprints and just walking up and down (4-5 times a week). After a few months I noticed that my knees were hurting, especially walking down. My schedule soon changed and I started doing strength training, and the knee pain went away.
My knees are generally a bit wonky, so that flareup may or may not have been due to the stairs. But pounding up and down cement stairs gotta be bad at least to some extent.