Department of Geriatrics, University of Bochum, Marienhospital Herne, Herne, Germany.
PLoS One. 2013 Apr 30;8(4):e60753. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060753. Print 2013.
Pain and musculoskeletal complaints are among the most common symptoms in the general population. Despite their epidemiological, clinical and health economic importance, prevalence data on pain and musculoskeletal complaints for Germany are scarce.
A cross-sectional survey of a random sample of citizens of Herne, Germany, aged ≥ 40 years was performed. A detailed self-complete postal questionnaire was used, followed by a short reminder questionnaire and telephone contacts for those not responding. The questionnaire contained 66 items, mainly addressing pain of any site, musculoskeletal complaints of any site and of knee and hip, pain intensities, the Western Ontario MacMaster Universities (WOMAC) index, medication, health care utilization, comorbidities, and quality of life.
The response rate was 57.8% (4,527 of 7,828 individuals). Survey participants were on average 1.3 years older, and the proportion of women among responders tended to be greater than in the population sample. There was no age difference between the population sample and 2,221 participants filling out the detailed questionnaire. The following standardized prevalences were assessed: current pain: 59.7%, pain within the past four weeks: 74.5%, current joint complaints: 49.3%, joint complaints within the past four weeks and twelve month: 62.8% and 67.4%, respectively, knee as the site predominantly affected: 30.9%, knee bilateral: 9.7%, hip: 15.2%, hip bilateral: 3.5%, knee and hip: 5.5%. Pain and musculoskeletal complaints were significantly more often reported by women. A typical relationship of pain and joint complaints to age could be found, i.e. increasing prevalences with increasing age categories, with a drop in the highest age groups. In general, pain and joint pain were associated with comorbidity and body mass index as well as quality of life.
Our data confirm findings of other recent national as well as European surveys. The high site specific prevalences of knee and hip complaints underline the necessity to further investigate characteristics and consequences of pain and symptomatic osteoarthritis of these joints in adults in Germany.
疼痛和肌肉骨骼疾病是普通人群中最常见的症状之一。尽管疼痛和肌肉骨骼疾病在流行病学、临床和健康经济学方面具有重要意义，但德国有关疼痛和肌肉骨骼疾病的流行数据却很少。
对德国赫尔讷市 40 岁以上的随机人群进行了横断面调查。使用详细的自我完成的邮寄问卷，随后对未回复者发送简短的提醒问卷和电话联系。问卷包含 66 个项目，主要涉及任何部位的疼痛、任何部位和膝关节及髋关节的肌肉骨骼疾病、疼痛强度、安大略西部麦克马斯特大学（WOMAC）指数、药物治疗、卫生保健利用、合并症和生活质量。
回复率为 57.8%（7828 人中的 4527 人）。调查参与者的平均年龄大 1.3 岁， responder 中的女性比例高于人群样本。人群样本与填写详细问卷的 2221 名参与者之间没有年龄差异。评估了以下标准化患病率：当前疼痛：59.7%，过去四周内疼痛：74.5%，当前关节疾病：49.3%，过去四周和十二个月内关节疾病：62.8%和 67.4%，分别为，膝关节受影响为主：30.9%，膝关节双侧：9.7%，髋关节：15.2%，髋关节双侧：3.5%，膝关节和髋关节：5.5%。女性更常报告疼痛和肌肉骨骼疾病。可以发现疼痛和关节疾病与年龄的典型关系，即随年龄类别增加而患病率增加，在最高年龄组中下降。一般来说，疼痛和关节疼痛与合并症和身体质量指数以及生活质量有关。
我们的数据证实了其他最近的全国性和欧洲性调查的发现。膝关节和髋关节疾病的高特定部位患病率强调了进一步研究德国成年人这些关节疼痛和症状性骨关节炎的特征和后果的必要性。
