title: Epidemiology of knee osteoarthritis in India and related factors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Among the chronic rheumatic diseases, hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent and is a leading cause of pain and disability in most countries worldwide. Its prevalence increases with age and generally affects women more frequently than men. OA is strongly associated with aging and heavy physical occupational activity, a required livelihood for many people living in rural communities in developing countries. Determining region-specific OA prevalence and risk factor profiles will provide important information for planning future cost effective preventive strategies and health care services.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was a community based cross sectional study to find out the prevalence of primary knee OA in India which has a population of 1.252 billion. The study was done across five sites in India. Each site was further divided into big city, small city, town, and village. The total sample size was 5000 subjects. Tools consisted of a structured questionnaire and plain skiagrams for confirmation of OA. Diagnosis was done using Kellgren and Lawrence scale for osteoarthritis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall prevalence of knee OA was found to be 28.7%. The associated factors were found to be female gender (prevalence of 31.6%) (P= 0.007), obesity (P= 0.04), age (P= 0.001) and sedentary work (P= 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is scarcity of studies done in India which has varied socio geographical background and communities. We conducted this study for analyzing the current prevalence of OA in different locations. This study has evidenced a large percentage of population as borderline OA; therefore, it depends mainly on the prevention of modifiable risk factors to preserve at ease movement in elderly population through awareness programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, S.N. Medical College, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Chandra Prakash
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, UP RIMS and R, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Pulkesh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Consultant, Asha Arthroscopic Centre, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaturvedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, S.N. Medical College, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Kaushal Kumar
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Pruthi
authors.affiliation: Consultant, Ram Raghu Hospital, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vij
keywords: Knee osteoarthritis; Osteoarthritis; epidemiology; knee; knee joint; prevalence; related factors; risk factors