Prevalence and pattern of knee osteoarthritis in a North Eastern Nigerian rural community

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and pattern of symptomatic knee osteorthritis (OA) in a rural Northeastern community in Nigeria and to determine the rural dwellers’ beliefs about the causes of knee OA and their health-care seeking behaviours’. Design: Cross sectional descriptive survey. Setting: A rural Northeastern community in Nigeria. Subjects: One thousand four hundred and three adults aged ≥ 30 years. Results: Two hundred and twenty nine (170 males, 59 females) participants aged ≥ 30 years were diagnosed as having knee OA, giving a point prevalence of 16.3%. The prevalence of symptomatic knee OA was 40.1% for females and 13.5% for male participants. For participants aged ≥ 40 years, the prevalence was 20.6%. Knee OA severity was significantly higher in participants aged ≤ 50years than those aged ≥ 60 years (P<001). Female participants had significantly more severe knee OA than males (p=0.000). Obese participants by BMI classification (p<0.001) and percent body fat classification (p< 0.001) had significantly more severe knee OA than participants who were overweight or with normal weight. The beliefs of participants about the causes of knee OA are old age (37%), evil spirits (22.2%) and heredity (19.2%). Traditional medicine was the most common health care services utilized by participants and doctor’s consultation was the least. Conclusion: The prevalence of symptomatic knee OA in this Northeastern Nigerian rural community is 16.3% for adults aged ≥ 30 years and 20.6% for those ≥ 40 years. Prevalence is higher in females, increases with age and increasing body adiposity. Healthcare seeking behaviour of adults in this community is poor.