The Epidemiology of Osteoarthritis of the Knee in
Elderly Patients Living an Urban Area of Bangkok
VILAI KUPTNIRATSAIKUL, M.D.*, ORCHATARA TOSAYANONDA, M.D.*,
SURASAK NILGANUWONG, M.D.**, VISANU THAMALIKITKUL, M.D. *n
Affiliation : * Department of Rehabilitation Medicine,
* * Department of Medicine,
***Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Research Promotion Office, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University,
Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
AbstractAn epidemiological study of 392 elderly Thai patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee,
86 males and 306 females, with a mean age of 67.8 years, was performed. The prevalence of knee
OA was 34.5-45.6 per cent. Most of the patients had completed primary education and had suffi
cient income. More than half of the patients had pain in both knees, but many of the elderly people
used neither knee supports nor walking aids (82.7 and 90.6%). Sixty-four per cent had no previous
knowledge concerning the value of exercise. Sixty-five per cent of the patients had never used any
pain medication. Three-fourths of the subjects evaluated themselves to have fair to good health. Sixty
per cent presented with knee pain when climbing the stairs, and 64.8 per cent had a fair quality of life.
Almost all the subjects had mild to moderately severe grade of OA and their X-ray findings were
level II-III. The average quadriceps strength and six-minute walking distance were 12.95 ± 5.51
kilograms and 363.69 ± 99.34 meters respectively. The five factors that significantly correlated with
walking ability were age, sex, the functional incapacity score, using walking aids and level of severity
found on X-ray. Previous knowledge about knee exercise did not affect walking ability, but may have
been due to the irregularity of the exercise schedule they performed. The elderly should be encou
raged to exercise regularly in addition to receive knowledge about proper exercise.
Keywords : Osteoarthritis, Knee, Epidemiology, Elderly
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