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

<h2>Abstract</h2><h3>Objectives</h3> To investigate the prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) and to identify factors related with person-level risk factors among older people in Colombia. <h3>Study design</h3> 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). <h3>Methods</h3> 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. <h3>Results</h3> 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. <h3>Conclusions</h3> 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.