Risk Factor for Knee Osteoarthritis Among Women

Background and Aim: Osteoarthritis is now firmly establish as public health problem. It is the most disabling diseases in many countries. Knee osteoarthritis is regarded as the most common form of the disease in adults. Elderly women are more affect by this disorder. From the available evidences, it is now reasonable to consider this disease as one of the most important among the chronic diseases and investigation for the risk factors that are associated with this disorder is very important. Aim of study to assess risk factors of osteoarthritis of the knee joint among women. Material and method: Case control study, where 200 women with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis proved by physical examinations and radiological evidences were allocate as cases. In addition, 200 women proved to be without clinical or radiological evidence of knee osteoarthritis were allocate as controls. The study was applied from 15th November 2013 to 7th april 2014. Questionnaire which focus on the distribution of the study population according to personal characteristics such as (Family history, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, walk long, employment and urban), life events as (previous trauma, stress previous surgery),other variables such as (BMI, DM, HT, genitourinary, calcium intake). Results: Smoking appeared in this study to be highly associated with knee osteoarthritis at (p-value =0.007), Sedentary lifestyle associated with development of knee Osteoarthritis (P-value =0.000).Unhealthy calcium intake was highly associated with development of knee osteoarthritis(P-Value=0.000),Walking for long distances appeared unexpected negatively associated with occurrence of knee Osteoarthritis(P-value=0.84). Employment appears unexpected negative associated with occurrence of knee Osteoarthritis (p-value= 0.129). Conclusion: Obese Women, diabetes mellitus, genitourinary infection, stress and previous surgery are the high risk for developing knee osteoarthritis, while hypertensive women or women with previous trauma has low risks for developing knee osteoarthritis. Recommendation: the study recommended avoiding sitting for long times, apply exercise regularly and encourage calcium intake for women to decrease the incidence of knee osteoarthritis. Keyword: Risk factor, Knee ,Osteoarthritis ,Women.