الملخص

ABSTRACT Background: Osteoarthritis of knee is a common cause of pain and disability. It is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide due to its association with an aging and obesity. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the associations between body mass index, gender, Islamic praying, praying in sitting position, usage of stairs, history of traumas, diabetes, hypertension, and hypothyroidism as risk factors for knee osteoarthritis in population of Mosul city. Patients and methods: This study is a case - control design, it was conducted through the period from Jan 2010 - Jan 2011 in the orthopedic outpatient clinic of Aljumhoori Teaching Hospital in Mosul. The target population of this study consisted of 213, 71 cases (61 females, 10 males), their ages mean 51.77 years, and 142 as controls. Results: The body mass index was higher in cases and shows highly significant difference between cases and control (p ≤ 0.000). Sex distribution in knee osteoarthritis revealed that there was significant difference between females and males as cases of osteoarthritis, (P ≤ 0.0001). Normal Islamic praying, Praying in sitting position, usage of stairs, appeared to be an associated risk factors, history of trauma was significantly higher in cases, while diabetes, hypertension, and hypothyroidism was not associated with the development of osteoarthritis of the knee. Conclusion: Females as a gender, obesity, Islamic praying in sitting position and history of trauma to the knee are important risk factors of osteoarthritis of the knee, while diabetes, hypertension and hypothyroidism are not associated with knee osteoarthritis. Keywords: Osteoarthritis, knee, risk factors.