Knee osteoarthritis: measurement of disability and associations with chronic venous insufficiency of the legs and osteoporosis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal problem in individuals older than 50 years. It is the fifth most common health problem among 21 conditions. It is the most common joint disease, characterized by pain, inflammation and stiffness due to degeneration of the articular cartilage, bone abnormalities and involvement of soft tissues .It is a slowly progressive disorder which represents failure of diarthorodial movable, synovial lined joint. One-hundred patients aged 50 years or older (82 females and 18 males) patients complaining from unilateral or bilateral knee pain (fulfilling the clinical classification criteria of idiopathic knee OA of the American College of Rheumatology ACR) were included in this study. Case collection was haphazard (convenience) sampling. The conversational Arabic version of WOMAC questionnaire is reliable and valid; therefore bit can be use as an outcome measure in following patients with knee OA. Knee osteoarthritis is significantly associated with increasing BMI, clinical venous insufficiency and relative increase in inflammatory markers. The inter-relationship with osteoporosis is complicated and needs further studies. However the study's findings suggests that osteopenia may be a protected against OA. These findings could have an important therapeutic implications. For example the evidence is accumulating that low grade inflammation plays an important role in OA. Proinflammatory state may then need to be targets of treatment when associated with OA.