Prevalence and risk factors for hand osteoarthritis

Abstract

IntroductionHand osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly prevalent disease with a significant physical and social burden. Thus we decided to find out prevalence of hand OA in the patients above 40 year of age who presented to us with either hand symptoms or knee OA. MethodsPostero-anterior hand radiographs were taken of both hands to confirm the diagnosis of hand OA. Fifteen joints were evaluated for the presence of osteophytes, joint space narrowing, sclerosis, and cysts. 358 patients attending Rheumatology OPD of two tertiary care centers in Eastern India in one year participated in study. ResultsNinety nine (27.65%) of 358 subjects had radiological hand OA. Among the 222 patients with knee OA 90 (40.5%) patients had hand OA. Nine (6.6%) of 136 patients with hand symptoms alone had hand OA. Overall 212 (59.21%) of 358 patients had symptoms in hand joints and of them 49 (23.2%) patients had hand OA positive. Female sex, older age, BMI >25, family history of OA or diabetes mellitus increased the risk of radiological hand OA. Knee OA increased the risk of hand OA both symptomatic and asymptomatic. ConclusionHand OA is common and a good quality X ray of hand is an initial investigation to diagnose hand OA. Presence of Knee OA increases risk of hand OA.