Risk factors of knee osteoarthritis: A case-control study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most common rheumatologic problems. To investigate risk factors related to the knee osteoarthritis a case-control study was performed using cases diagnosed in the Community Oriented Program for Control of Rheumatic Diseases (COPCORD) study, stage I. METHODS: Using data from the 2012 COPCORD study, stage-I that was conducted in Sanandaj, northwestern of Iran, we runned a case-control study in 2014-2015. Cases were 700 knee osteoarthritis using American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria, frequency matched with 700 healthy controls that were randomly selected from the general population. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, statistical significant relation was observed between knee OA and some studied factors such as body mass index (P <0.001), lodging (living in highland vs. plain) (P <0.001), type of used toilet (regular vs. toilet) (P <0.001), history of using high-heeled shoes (>3 cm) (P = 0.005), history of knee Injury (P = 0.04), history of lower limb fracture (P = 0.02), Number of pregnancies (P <0.001) and history of pain and swelling (lasting for one months) (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Living in highland area, using regular toilet, having knee injury and lower limb fracture in the past were most significant associated factors with occurrence of knee osteoarthritis.