The American Journal of Innovative Research and Applied Sciences.www.american-jiras.com

Background: Osteoarthritis is a generative joint disease that involves the degradation of joints, articular cartilage and subchondral bone, as a result of mechanical stress on the area. Objective: Prevalence of osteoarthritis among ethnic communities in Bangladesh was objective of this study. Methods: This was a cross sectional study. This study was conducted among purposively selected 384 ethnic people from hilly area of Bangladesh. History of patient, X-ray and physical examination was used to diagnoses osteoarthritis. Results: Mean±SD age of respondents was 53.71±1.20 years. Most of them were house wife 34.1 % followed by service 27.1%. Moderate, hard working and sedentary type of life among respondents was 63.3%, 29.5 % and 7.2%. About 89.6 % respondents had no osteoarthritis and 10.4 % respondents were diagnosed as osteoarthritis. Most of the respondents (87%) suffered from knee osteoarthritis and 13 % from hip osteoarthritis. No significant association was found between age group and osteoarthritis. Conclusion: The prevalence of osteoarthritis among ethnic communities is 10%. To lead healthy and productive life every ethnic people should conscious about osteoarthritis