PCL 7- risk factors of osteoarthritis

Risk factors of osteoarthritis...

1. Medical Condition

You have an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis if you have or have had:

o Past injury to a joint
o Previous surgery to the joint
o History of infection in a joint
o Congenital defect or weakness in a joint
o Acromegaly (a pituitary disorder)
o Paget’s disease of bone
o Hemochromatosis (iron overload disease)
o Gout or pseudogout
o Bleeding into the joint (as occurs with hemophilia)
o Bone deformities (born with malformed joints or defective cartilage)
o Congenital or developmental deformities (Abnormalities of the hip and knee)


2. Genetic Factors

o The tendency to develop osteoarthritis frequently runs in families.
o A genetic defect may promote breakdown of the protective architecture of cartilage
o Examples include collagen disturbances such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
o Current research suggests that the genes inherited from one's parents may make an individual more likely to develop osteoarthritis than someone who does not have these genes.

3. AGE

o 50% of people over the age of 65 have arthritis in at least one joint
o Over 80% of people over the age of 75 have arthritis in at least one joint
o Osteoarthritis may first appear without symptoms between 30 and 40 years of age and is present in almost everyone by the age of 70

4. Obesity

o Carrying more body weight places more stress on your weight-bearing joints, such as your knees.
o Being overweight forces changes to your walking gait and posture and can alter the normal structure of a joint.

5. Physical and Anatomical Factors

o Some researchers suggest that a number of people have anatomical abnormalities, such as mismatched surfaces on the joints, which could be damaged over time by abnormal stress
o Legs of unequal length or skewed feet can cause jerky movement and may cause osteoarthritis
o One study reported that those whose knees bent inward ("knock-kneed") or outward ("bow-legged"), for example, were more likely to have progressive osteoarthritis of the knee.

6. Gender

o Before age 45, osteoarthritis occurs more frequently in males (although it is not common in younger adults)
o After age 55, it develops more often in females
o In a 2000 study, 33% of women had osteoarthritis compared to 25% of men.
o Some research suggests that women may also experience greater muscle and joint pain, in general, than men
o women also tend to be undertreated for pain compared to men.
o The causes of such differences in pain sensitivity and treatment are largely unknown and most likely are due to a complicated mix of biologic, psychologic, and social factors.

7. Certain occupations

o If your job includes tasks that place repetitive stress on a particular joint, that may predispose that joint toward eventually developing osteoarthritis.
o Activities that put repeated stress on a joint include repetitive squatting, kneeling, or heavy lifting.


8. Ethnic Background
o Caucasians have a higher overall risk of developing osteoarthritis than Asians.
o Osteoarthritis of the hip is less common in Chinese, Jamaican, and South African, and Asian Indians; hip and knee osteoarthritis is more common among the Japanese.
o African-American women have more osteoarthritis of the knee and less osteoarthritis of the hand than do Caucasian women in the US.