Prevalence and burden of osteoarthritis amongst older people in Colombia: Results from national survey of health, wellbeing, and aging (SABE Colombia)

Objectives

To investigate the prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) and to identify factors related with person-level risk factors among older people in Colombia.

Study design

This study used cross-sectional data from 23.694 adults aged ≥60 or older (median: 70.8 years, 57.3 % women) living in rural and urban communities from the National Survey of Health, Wellbeing and Aging in Colombia (SABE Colombia, according to its initials in Spanish).

Methods

Logistic regression was used to determine associations between the presence of OA and a range of sociodemographic, health-related, functional, biomarkers, and social/environmental variables.

Results

The overall prevalence of OA was 26 % (women-36.5 %; men-14.9 %). Prevalence increased with age and in mestizo ethnicity placed in urban areas. On multivariable analysis, OA was significantly associated with older age, female gender, multimorbidity, fair/poor self-perceived health, a higher body mass index (BMI), a greater number of physical limitations, and perceived safety/security problems in the neighborhood. In particular, there was a strong association between multimorbidity and the presence of OA (OR = 4.97 (95 % CI 4.46, 5.53)). An inverse association between HDL cholesterol levels and the prevalence of OA was observed. Triglyceride levels showed a significant trend.

Conclusions

OA is a common and multifaceted condition, with a comparable prevalence of self-reported OA in Colombia with similar populations elsewhere. Assessment and management should focus on potentially modifiable factors such as BMI, multimorbidity, metabolic syndrome, physical limitations, mobility disabilities, and safety/security problems in the neighborhoods. More research is required to understand the complex interrelationships between these and other risk-associated variables.