Osteoarthritis(degenerative joint disease), the most common arthropathy affecting the aged people, is characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage with proliferation and remodeling of subchondral bone.
Though the etiology of osteoarthritis is not entirely understood, much information is available regarding risk factors for the development of knee osteoarthritis that permit some reasonable guideline for preventive strategies.
The usual clinical manifestations include pain, stiffness, crepitus and loss of function.
The diagnosis of osteoarthritis in population surveys has been made using clinical manifestations. In particular, from the standpoint of rehabilitation medicine, osteoarthritis of the knee represents a major cause of chronic disability.
We defined osteoarthritis of the knee as knee pain over one month and crepitus in over 40 years old.
We examined association between osteoarthritis of the knee and risk factors such as obesity, age, and sex.
The body mass index(BMI, weight(kg)/height(m)2) or Quetlet's index was used as a measure of obesity. We define four body mass strata, namely, underweight(BMI under 20), ideal(BMI 20~25), borderline(BMI 25~27), and obese(BMI over 27).
To investigate the associated factors of the osteoarthritis of the knee, this study was done in some rural area of Chonnam province in February of 1995. Three hundreds and eighty three men and 305 women over 40 years old were interviewed, and history taking and physical examination were performed.
The results were as follows;
1. The prevalence rates of osteoarthritis were 31.1% in male and 48.2% in female.
2. Prevalence was increased with age in male and with BMI in female aged 40~69 years.
