Sato Shinichiro, Nemoto Yuta, Takahashi Masaki, Takeda Noriko, Matsushita Munehiro, Kitabatake Yoshinori, Arao Takashi
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Human Arts and Sciences.
Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University.
Nihon Koshu Eisei Zasshi. 2017;64(6):322-329. doi: 10.11236/jph.64.6_322.
Objectives The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of knee pain in independent community-dwelling elderly people and to examine the basic characteristics (sex and age) of those experiencing knee pain.Methods Survey on the health status and lifestyle habits was conducted for all (6,790) independent elderly who were 65 years or older, living in Tsuru City, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The survey was carried out using a mailing questionnaire for 1 month from January 12 to February 11, 2016. Knee pain was defined as subjective pain in and around the knee joint in either one or both knees, on most days during the past month. Participants answered "Yes" if they were experienced knee pain, and "No" if they did not experience knee pain. Sex and age were investigated as basic characteristics of the participants by the questionnaire. The prevalence rate of knee pain was calculated as follows: the total number of people with knee pain divided by the total number of the respondents in the study. To examine the relationships between knee pain and age or sex, these basic characteristics were analyzed using a Chi-square test for the prevalence of knee pain within sex and age groups.Results The number of survey respondents was 5,328 (response rate: 78.5%). The number of valid respondents with complete data was 5,186 (valid response rate: 76.4%). The number of subjects who responded "with knee pain" was 1,733. The prevalence rate of knee pain was 33.4%. In addition, sex and age demonstrated strong associations with the prevalence of knee pain (both, P<0.001). In other words, the prevalence rate was higher in the elderly women than in elderly men and increased with age.Conclusion The present study suggested that one in three independently living elderly who live in medium-sized local municipalities in Japan experience chronic knee pain. The basic characteristics of a community-dwelling independent elderly with knee pain are to be a woman and older age.
目的 本研究的目的是确定独立居住在社区的老年人膝关节疼痛的患病率，并研究出现膝关节疼痛者的基本特征（性别和年龄）。
方法 对居住在日本山梨县都留市的所有65岁及以上的独立老年人（共6790人）进行健康状况和生活习惯调查。调查于2016年1月12日至2月11日通过邮寄问卷的方式进行，为期1个月。膝关节疼痛定义为在过去一个月中的大多数日子里，一侧或双侧膝关节及周围的主观疼痛。参与者若有膝关节疼痛则回答“是”，若无膝关节疼痛则回答“否”。通过问卷调查参与者的性别和年龄作为基本特征。膝关节疼痛患病率的计算方法如下：膝关节疼痛人数除以研究中的总受访者人数。为研究膝关节疼痛与年龄或性别的关系，使用卡方检验对性别和年龄组内膝关节疼痛的患病率进行这些基本特征的分析。
结果 调查受访者人数为5328人（回复率：78.5%）。有完整数据的有效受访者人数为5186人（有效回复率：76.4%）。回答“有膝关节疼痛”的受试者人数为1733人。膝关节疼痛患病率为33.4%。此外，性别和年龄与膝关节疼痛患病率有很强的关联（两者，P<0.001）。也就是说，老年女性的患病率高于老年男性，且患病率随年龄增加而升高。
结论 本研究表明，在日本中型地方城市独立生活的老年人中，三分之一的人患有慢性膝关节疼痛。社区居住的独立膝关节疼痛老年人的基本特征是女性且年龄较大。
