Prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed osteoarthrosis and associated factors in the adult general Spanish population

Objective: To determine the prevalence and related factors of diagnosed osteoarthrosis (DO) and undiagnosed osteoarthrosis (UO) in the general Spanish adult population. Setting: Cross-sectional study with data from the Spanish National Health Survey 2017. Participants: N = 23,089 adults. Three groups of people were defined: DO, UO, and no osteoarthrosis (NO). Main measurements: Sociodemographic information, lifestyle (tobacco, alcohol, physical activity, body mass index) and health factors (intensity of pain, pain drug consumption, mental health, self-perceived health status, pain involvement in daily living) were collected. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed, and a multinomial logistic regression model for the factors associated with each group. Results: The prevalence of DO was 22.4% (95%CI = 21.8;22.9) and 0.9% (95%CI = 0.8;1) of UO. With respect to NO, risk factors for DO and UO included higher pain levels and pain drug consumption. Better self-perceived health status was inversely related with both. More pain involvement in daily living was associated with increased risk of DO, but reduced risk of UO. Conclusions: The prevalence of DO and UO was similar to that reported in Europe, but slightly higher than in low/middle-income countries. It was more prevalent in females, older people, people with worse perceived health status and worse mental health. Higher pain levels and pain drug consumption were risk factors for DO and UO. Better self -perceived health status was protective. Pain involvement in daily living was a risk factor for DO, but protective for UO. Different public health strategies should be considered in view of this. (c) 2024 Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY -NC -ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).