Period prevalence of knee osteoarthritis among the elderly patients attending a rheumatology clinic

Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent articular disease in older adults. Disease markers that will detect early disease and allow early intervention with pharmacologic agents are presently unavailable. This was a hospital based observational prospective study carried out over a period of six months from April 2016 to October 2016. Patients were interviewed and data were recorded on a standardized predesigned and a pretested questionnaire. Measurements of height, weight and body mass index (BMI) were recorded. Patients in the age group 60-80 years who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) clinical criteria were included. Patients below the age of 60 years, patients with inflammatory arthritis, trauma induced pain, systemic illness and mentally impaired were excluded. Two hundred and fifty four patients were seen during the study period. Eighty six patients that met the ACR clinical criteria were studied. Patients in the age group 60 to 70 (67.4%) years dominated the study group. The mean age was 68 ± 7.5 and female to male ratio was 2.6 to 1. The duration of knee pain before presentation was 3 to 16 years with a mean of 9 ± 3 years. Knee osteoarthritis was positively associated with body mass index (p <0.05). Obesity was more common amongst women (67.8%) compared to men (58.3%).. Knee pain and joint crepitus were the leading clinical presentations. The period prevalence of knee osteoarthritis was 33.9%. The prevalence among men was 9.4% while the prevalence among women was 24.4%. Osteoarthritis was common among the elderly people and women were more affected. There was a positive correlate between knee osteoarthritis and the body mass index