(06) The prevalence and risk factors of arthritis among middle-aged and older Chinese: a cross-sectional study from CHARLS

Abstract

Backgrounds: Arthritis is an inflammatory disorder affecting one or more joints of the body with varying causal factors, including trauma, infections, and aging. As one of the most disabling diseases, arthritis leads to joint deformity and further causes dysfunction, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. The prevalence of arthritis increases with age, especially in middle-aged and older people aged 45 years and above. With the acceleration of aging process in China, the prevalence rate of arthritis will continue to increase, so the arthritis in middle-aged and older people in China needs attention. However, few reports reported prevalence and its influencing factors of arthritis in China, especially in middle-aged and older population.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of arthritis in middle aged and elderly people and explore the risk factors of arthritis.

Methods: Data on arthritis were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2015, which was initiated in 2011 and covered 150 county-level units, 450 villager-level units and about 17,000 people out of 10,000 households. Chi-squared test for categorical variables was used to compare statistics between different groups. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the associations of arthritis with social characteristics (age, gender, location), comorbidity (hypertension, diabetes, memory disorder), lifestyle (smoking, drinking, exercise). All statistical analyses used Stata version 15.0, and a two-sided test with P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: In 2015, a total of 13,590 participants aged 45 years and older were included in this study, among them 597 patients confirmed as having an arthritis. The total prevalence of arthritis was 4.39%. Females (p< 0.001), those who lived in rural areas(p=0.015), drinking (p=0.035), and with hypertension (p< 0.001), diabetes (p=0.015) and memory disorders(p=0.002) had higher risk of arthritis than others. Logistic regression results showed that females (OR=1.81), smoking (OR=1.75), and with hypertension (OR=2.03) were risk factors for arthritis.

Conclusion: Females, those who had hypertension, and smoking were the risk factors for arthritis, and corresponding protective measures should be taken to reduce the negative effects of arthritis.

Keywords: Arthritis; CHARLS; Risk factors; Prevalence