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Epidemiology of osteoarthritis
Last reviewed: 07.07.2025

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Diseases of the musculoskeletal system, combined in class XIII of the ICD, are considered worldwide as one of the most common pathologies of modern society. Among them, osteoarthrosis is the most common pathology of synovial joints. The prevalence of osteoarthrosis in the population (6.43%) correlates with age and reaches maximum rates (13.9%) in people over 45 years old. The incidence of osteoarthrosis in Ukraine is 497.1, prevalence - 2200.6 per 100,000 population, which is significantly lower than world indicators (in the USA - 700 and 6500, respectively).
Incidence of rheumatic diseases in different countries of the world (according to Ciocci A., 1999)
Country |
Total number of cases, million |
Number of cases per 100 population |
Year |
Link |
Netherlands |
- |
18.5 |
1975 |
Social Security Service |
Germany |
20 |
16 |
1974 |
Federal Statistics Service |
Austria |
- |
15.4 |
1977 |
Josenhans |
Denmark |
0,560 |
14 |
1957 |
Robecchi et al. |
United Kingdom |
5.8 |
11 |
1976 |
LBR* UK |
France |
4 |
8 |
1976 |
Rubens-Duval and Chaouat |
USA |
20 |
7 |
1976 |
Public Health Service Arthritis Foundation |
Switzerland |
- |
8-13 |
1977 |
Federal LBR |
Italy |
5.5 |
10 |
1986 |
Italian LBR |
Spain |
4 |
12.7 |
1992 |
Spanish LBR |
All over the world |
200 |
4 |
1971 |
WHO |
Note: *LBR - League Against Rheumatism.
Before presenting the data on the prevalence of osteoarthritis in the world, it should be noted that in various epidemiological studies, as a rule, two types of criteria for diagnosing the disease were used - radiological according to Kellgren and Lawrence (1957) and ACR criteria. According to the latter, the diagnosis of osteoarthritis is established only in cases where the main symptom is present - joint pain during most days of the previous month. Naturally, the prevalence of osteoarthritis, assessed using different criteria, will be different and, probably, this indicator is underestimated when using ACR criteria compared to traditional radiological assessment.
In the United States, the epidemiology of osteoarthritis has been studied most thoroughly by two national programs, the National Health Examination Survey (NHES) and the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-I), which were conducted from 1960 to 1962 and from 1971 to 1975, respectively (National Center for Health Statistics). The data from these two studies were later summarized by the National Arthritis Data Work Group in 1989 and 1998.
Dynamics of prevalence rates of arthrosis and morbidity in 1997, 1999-2001 (per 100 thousand population) (according to Kovalenko V.N. et al., 2002)
Region |
Prevalence of arthrosis |
Incidence of arthrosis |
||||||
1997 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
1997 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
|
Ukraine |
1212 |
1790 |
1968,5 |
2200,6 |
254 |
420 |
453.84 |
497.1 |
Autonomous Republic of Crimea |
805 |
1037 |
1175,18 |
1422,0 |
180 |
269 |
319.5 |
312.3 |
Vinnitskaya |
2386 |
3175 |
3317,16 |
3625.1 |
522 |
591 |
650.77 |
586.3 |
Volyn |
2755 |
3094 |
3261 79 |
3378.9 |
340 |
446 |
526.29 |
538.2 |
Dnepropetrovsk |
1096 |
1894 |
2104,64 |
2377 8 |
346 |
602 |
676,01 |
745.2 |
Donetsk |
1896 |
2668 |
2709,95 |
3012,5 |
307 |
460 |
453.66 |
566.8 |
Zhitomir |
1121 |
2107 |
3319.27 |
4552,0 |
173 |
426 |
488.2 |
677.1 |
Transcarpathian |
360 |
977 |
1335.24 |
2136.9 |
89 |
337 |
473.25 |
668,0 |
Zaporizhzhya |
862 |
1207 |
1210,53 |
1234.4 |
141 |
356 |
279.16 |
335.3 |
Ivano-Frankivsk |
2353 |
3645 |
3963,99 |
4159.3 |
530 |
780 |
937.84 |
962.3 |
Kyiv |
686 |
1287 |
1459.4 |
1550,1 |
190 |
352 |
411.77 |
415.6 |
Kirovograd |
1331 |
1988 |
2237,42 |
2465.7 |
219 |
365 |
435.47 |
439 3 |
Lugansk |
810 |
1161 |
113877 |
1168.3 |
179 |
350 |
330.82 |
339.7 |
Lviv |
318 |
700 |
764.38 |
877.7 |
121 |
310 |
290.6 |
365.5 |
Nikolaevskaya |
558 |
668 |
796.98 |
894.4 |
132 |
204 |
238.31 |
271.2 |
Odessa |
1729 |
2239 |
2355,66 |
2478,5 |
385 |
535 |
556.55 |
575.5 |
Poltava |
464 |
829 |
970.93 |
1032.8 |
96 |
321 |
366.7 |
364.6 |
Rivne |
640 |
1075 |
1063.28 |
1107.8 |
116 |
239 |
238.78 |
239.3 |
Sumskaya |
1273 |
1606 |
1828,03 |
2115,5 |
261 |
365 |
420.15 |
465 4 |
Ternopil |
1568 |
1896 |
2072.99 |
2113.6 |
197 |
234 |
282.82 |
273.6 |
Kharkiv |
933 |
1189 |
1265,75 |
1317.6 |
226 |
323 |
357.28 |
456 9 |
Kherson |
633 |
2109 |
2677,82 |
3074.3 |
248 |
775 |
724.55 |
797,0 |
Khmelnitskaya |
983 |
1318 |
1451,12 |
1480,0 |
152 |
257 |
298.94 |
296.5 |
Cherkasy |
2058 |
2950 |
343719 |
4420,0 |
442 |
534 |
675.5 |
660.9 |
Chernivtsi |
2772 |
3447 |
3811,79 |
3909.9 |
454 |
417 |
681.84 |
370.8 |
Chernihiv |
1428 |
2253 |
2304.32 |
2539.8 |
315 |
517 |
433.2 |
539.3 |
City of Kyiv |
690 |
1239 |
1419.51 |
1559.3 |
202 |
395 |
405.29 |
467.3 |
City of Sevastopol |
982 |
1665 |
1653.92 |
1789,1 |
215 |
384 |
343.9 |
397.8 |
The diagnosis of osteoarthritis was based on radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis in the joints of the hands and lower extremities (NHES) and in the knee and hip joints (NHANES-I). In the latter study, the clinical picture of the disease was also taken into account when diagnosing osteoarthritis.
According to NHES and NHANES-I, about one third of individuals aged 25 to 74 years have radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis in at least one location. In particular, 33% have definite osteoarthritis of the hand joints, 22% have osteoarthritis of the foot joints, and 4% have osteoarthritis of the knee joints. Among individuals aged 55 to 74 years, osteoarthritis of the hand joints was diagnosed in 70%, of the foot joints in 40%, gonarthrosis in 10%, and coxarthrosis in 3%. Among 6,913 individuals examined in NHANES-I, osteoarthritis was diagnosed in 12% of individuals aged 25 to 74 years. Using data for 1990, the National Arthritis Data Work Group concluded that more than 20 million adults in the United States have clinical evidence of osteoarthritis.
According to the Framingham Osteoarthritis Study (a study of the prevalence of osteoarthritis in Americans - representatives of the Caucasian race aged 63 to 93 years), one third of individuals have reliable radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis of the knee joint. Similar data were obtained in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging.
The prevalence of overt knee osteoarthritis was studied in NHANES-I and the Framinghem Osteoarthritis Study. Osteoarthritis was considered overt if the patient complained of knee pain on most days for at least one month. According to NHANES-I, the prevalence of overt knee osteoarthritis was 1.6% among individuals aged 25-74 years; according to the Framinghem Osteoarthritis Study, it was 9.5% among individuals aged 63-93 years.
A 1990 survey of the prevalence of rheumatic diseases in Spain showed that 12.7% of respondents (25.7% over 60 years of age) reported complaints typical of some rheumatic diseases, of which 43% (29.4% of men and 52.3% of women) complained of symptoms of osteoarthritis.
According to 1994 data, there were 4 million patients with osteoarthritis in Italy, which constituted 72% of all patients with rheumatic diseases.
Structure of rheumatic diseases incidence in Italy in 1994
Disease |
Total number of patients |
% of the total number of patients with rheumatic diseases |
Osteoarthritis |
4 million |
72.63 |
Extra-articular rheumatism |
700 thousand |
12.71 |
Rheumatoid arthritis |
410 thousand |
7.45 |
Ankylosing spondylitis |
151 thousand |
2.74 |
Gouty arthritis |
112 thousand |
2.03 |
Diseases of connective tissue |
33.6 thousand |
0.61 |
Acute rheumatoid arthritis |
500 thousand |
0.01 |
Other rheumopathies |
100 thousand |
1.82 |
All in all |
5 million 500 thousand |
100 |
According to an epidemiological study of the prevalence of chronic diseases in the highlands of Scotland, the prevalence of telknifenotnogo A. was 65 Via 00 of the population.
I. Petersson (1996) found osteoarthrosis of the joints of the hands in 10% of people aged 40-49 years and in 92% (more than 90% of women, 80% of men) over the age of 70 years living in Europe. In the populations of Sweden and the Netherlands, the prevalence of osteoarthrosis of the joints of the hands in the age group over 70 years was 92 and 75%, respectively, in people over 15 years - 22 and 29%, respectively.
In the UK, the prevalence of Kellgren and Lawrence grades III–IV osteoarthritis in the over-55 age group was 8.4% in women and 3.1% in men. In the Netherlands, the prevalence of osteoarthritis in people over 60 years was estimated at 5.6% in women and 3.7% in men. A prospective study of 12,051 radiographs in Sweden found that the prevalence of coxarthrosis increased from less than 1% in the under-55 age group to 10% in people over 85 years; the mean prevalence of osteoarthritis in people over 55 years was 3.1%, with no difference by sex. In the Netherlands, the prevalence of Kellgren and Lawrence grades II–IV osteoarthritis is about 3% in the 45–49 age group.
The prevalence of osteoarthritis of the knee joints varies widely, according to different researchers. Thus, according to JA Kellgren and JS Lawrence (1958), in the age group of 55-64 years, this figure was 40.7% for women and 29.8% for men. TD Spector et al. (1991) found osteoarthritis of the knee joints in 2.9% of women aged 45-65 years. In a Dutch study, gonarthrosis was diagnosed in 7.7-14.3% of people aged 45-49 years.
In a 12-year prospective observation of 258 individuals from the general population over 45 years of age, it was found that about 25% of women and 10% of men developed radiographic signs of knee osteoarthritis during this period. According to E. Bagge et al. (1992), in the age group of 75-79 years, the incidence of osteoarthritis of the small joints of the hands was 13.6%, and of the knee joints - 4.5% over a five-year period. J. P. Masse et al. (1992) found that the average age of onset of chronic pain in women with lateral patellofemoral (patella-femoral), medial and lateral tibiofemoral (tibiofemoral) osteoarthritis was 56.6+12, 62.7+12 and 69.2+10 years, respectively. In men, knee joint pain appeared somewhat later: at the age of 60.5±10 years with lateral patellofemoral osteoarthrosis and 64+10 years with medial tibiofemoral osteoarthrosis.
In the United States, osteoarthritis is the second leading cause of premature retirement after cardiovascular disease (more than 5% per year).
Primary disability of the population due to deforming arthrosis by regions of Ukraine (according to Kovalenko V.N. et al., 2002)
Region, 2001 |
Adult population |
Working-age population |
||
Abs. number |
For 10 thousand. |
Abs. number |
For 10 thousand. |
|
Volyn |
68.0 |
0.8 |
58.0 |
1.0 |
Transcarpathian |
66.0 |
0.7 |
56.0 |
0.7 |
Ivano-Frankivsk |
1.0 |
0.01 |
1.0 |
0.01 |
Lviv |
157.0 |
0.7 |
115.0 |
0.7 |
Rivne |
91.0 |
1.0 |
55.0 |
0.8 |
Ternopil |
94.0 |
1.0 |
58.0 |
0.9 |
Chernivtsi |
46.0 |
0.6 |
38.0 |
0.7 |
Autonomous Republic of Crimea |
138.0 |
0.8 |
71.0 |
0.6 |
Dnepropetrovsk |
56.0 |
0.2 |
3.0 |
0.01 |
Zaporizhzhya |
0,0 |
0,0 |
0,0 |
0,0 |
Nikolaevskaya |
69.0 |
0.7 |
48.0 |
0.6 |
Odessa |
228,0 |
1,1 |
118.0 |
0.8 |
Kherson |
45.0 |
0.5 |
25.0 |
0.4 |
City of Sevastopol |
73.0 |
2,3 |
28.0 |
1,2 |
Donetsk |
407,0 |
1.0 |
275.0 |
1.0 |
Lugansk |
107.0 |
0.5 |
68.0 |
0.4 |
Poltava |
224 0 |
1.6 |
84.0 |
0.9 |
Sumskaya |
4.0 |
0.04 |
3.0 |
0.04 |
Kharkiv |
221.0 |
0.9 |
121.0 |
0.7 |
Chernihiv |
66.0 |
0.6 |
29.0 |
0.4 |
Vinnitskaya |
179.0 |
1,2 |
80.0 |
0.8 |
Zhitomir |
125.0 |
1,1 |
80.0 |
1.0 |
Kyiv |
133.0 |
0.9 |
76.0 |
0.7 |
Kirovograd |
138.0 |
1.5 |
86.0 |
1.4 |
Cherkasy |
200,0 |
1.7 |
61.0 |
0.8 |
Khmelnitskaya |
95.0 |
0.8 |
72.0 |
0.9 |
City of Kyiv |
265.0 |
1,2 |
32.0 |
0.2 |
Ukraine, 2001 |
2773,0 |
0.8 |
1360,0 |
0.6 |
Ukraine, 2000 |
3223,0 |
0.8 |
1652,0 |
0.6 |
[ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ], [ 8 ], [ 9 ], [ 10 ]
Economic aspects of osteoarthritis
Pathology of the musculoskeletal system, in which osteoarthrosis occupies a leading place, leads to significant losses in the economic, social and psychological spheres. Losses associated with diseases of this group have increased in recent years and amount to 1-2.5% of the gross national income of such developed countries as the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France and Australia. In 1980, in the United States of America, expenses associated with diseases of the musculoskeletal system amounted to 21 billion dollars (1% of the gross national product), in 1988 - 54.6 billion dollars, and in 1992 - 64.8 billion dollars. In 1986, in Canada, these losses were estimated at 8.3 billion Canadian dollars; In France, 4 billion French francs in direct costs (medicines, doctor visits, laboratory tests, X-rays, rehabilitation therapy, etc.) and about 600 million francs in indirect costs associated with losses in production where osteoarthritis patients are employed. In the UK, about 219 million pounds sterling are spent on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) per year (most of which is spent by osteoarthritis patients), which is 5% of total drug costs. In Norway, the equivalent of 8 million pounds sterling is spent on NSAIDs annually.