Analysis on the survey of risk factors of symptomatic osteoarthritis in Shanxi rural community

Objective To investigate the factor that affecting the prevalence of osteoarthritis in rural areas of Shanxi, China. Methods All the residents above 16-year-old from the villages chosen by multi-stage stratified cluster sampling in Yangcheng County and Pianguan County in Shanxi Province were investigated by COPCORD procedure of WHO. All respondents signed the informed consent forms. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used for the risk factor analysis. Results Seven thousand one hundred and twenty-six permanent residents in the two counties were investigated, of which 1734 cases of patients with osteoarthritis were identified. Take with or without osteoarthritis as response variables, statistically significant variables in the univariate analysis were substituted into the logistic regression model. Forward method was used for the variable selection. The inclusion criteria set as 0.10. The results showed that, age, room heating and ventilation, marital status, occupation, education, engaged in coal mine work, accompanied cardiovascular disease were the risk factors for osteoarthritis disease. Conclusion There were many factors that affect the prevalence of osteoarthritis in Shanxi rural communities, in which lifestyle may play an important role. Early intervention on risk factors may have a significant effect on reducing the prevalence. Key words: Osteoarthritis; Risk factors; Rural areas; Cross-sectional study