Epidemiological Study Of Rheumatic Diseases In Taiyuan Area

Objective To evaluate the prevalence of the frequently seen rheumatic disorders, and the clinical features of these diseases in Taiyuan area, and to investigate the associated risk factors of knee osteoarthritis. Thus to improve the level of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention measures.Methods The working team was headed by ZCH, 10 primary healthy workers and 5 rheumatologists were included. Modified ILAR-China Core Questionnaire, procedure of the Community Oriented Program for Control of Rheumatic Disorders (COPCORD) were implemented. The subjects were interviewed house by house in evening (Phase I, II). Positive respondents were examined simultaneously by rheumatologists (Phase III) . X-ray films and laboratory examination were arranged for the suspected cases in Phase IV. For investigating the associated risk factors of knee osteoarthritis, and the prevalence of soft tissue rheumatism, protocol of APLAR-COPCORD Core Questionnaire for Identification of Risk Factors of Knee Osteoarthritis and APLAR-COPCORD Core Questionnaire for Identification of Soft Tissue Rheumatism were carried out at the same time of interview. The films were read by 2 radiologists blindly and independently, and arrived at a consensus opinion at last. Suspected cases were recalled after completion of the survey and examined by rheumatologists to ensure international comparability of the diagnosis. All the data were analyzed with SPSS 11.5 for Windows. 18 parameter of the associated risk factors of osteoarthritis, such as sex, age, body mass index, waist circumference et. al. were included in logistic regression model for further analysis. The prevalence rate was standardized with the Taiyuan city population of nationwide census in year 2000 as standard group. The ACR...