Prevalence of symptomatic knee, hand and hip osteoarthritis among individuals 40 years or older: a study conducted in İzmir city.

Objective: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of symptomatic knee, hand and hip osteoarthritis among men and women at or over 40 years of age, living in the Bayraklı Adalet district of İzmir.

Methods: The study included a sample size of 522 people calculated using the Epi Info™ software. Demographic information, weight, height and body mass index were recorded. Patients were physically examined for evidence of osteoarthritis, such as joint tenderness, range of motion deficiency, deformity, 1st carpometacarpal joint involvement and Heberden's and/or Bouchard's nodes. One hundred and ninety-one individuals were suspected of having knee/hand/hip osteoarthritis and 152 of these were called in for radiographs.

Results: The prevalence of symptomatic knee, hand and hip osteoarthritis of adults aged ≥40 years was 20.9%, 2.8% and 1.0%, respectively. Symptomatic knee and hand osteoarthritis was significantly higher among women (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between two genders regarding symptomatic hip osteoarthritis.

Conclusion: Knee osteoarthritis is frequent in the region in which the study was conducted. An effective health policy regarding osteoarthritis can be created following further studies with larger samples representing the entire country.