RESUMEN
BACKGROUND:The living standard of farmers and herdsmen in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China is significantly lower than that of urban residents in general. Meanwhile, the shortage of doctors and medicines and lack of medical knowledge are the main reasons for local farmers and herdsmen to suffer from knee osteoarthritis. Most of the farmers and herdsmen are not aware of or prevent knee osteoarthritis in the early days to remove pathogenic factors, which results in a serious condition at the time of their medical treatment. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the main pathogenic factors of knee osteoarthritis in Uygur, Kazakh and Han populations in pastoral areas of northern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.METHODS:The permanent residents of Uygur, Kazakh and Han ethnic groups in northern Xinjiang, China who met the criteria were selected by the method of stratified, multistage and cluster random sampling during June 2012 to October 2014. The investigation of knee osteoarthritis was conducted among al the residents who meet the inclusion criteria using the method of home scene closed questionnaire. X-ray lateral plain film examination of the knee joint was performed among the patients presenting with the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. The database was established. The multi-factor and unconditional Logistic regression analysis was conducted among the 40 variables using SPSS 20.0 software. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The 3 402 of 3 540 questionnaires were valid. The Logistic regression analysis suggest that the common pathogenic factors in Han, Uygur and Kazakh ethnic groups are associated with older ages, female gender, high body mass and drink alcohol. Smoking, history of internal disease, high education level, standing position, climbing, trauma, family history, fried food, housing conditions and amenorrhea, different nationalities, churchgoing of ethnic minorities are also the major risk factors. Among the three ethnic groups, the prevalence of female patients in Uygur and Kazak ethnic groups is significantly higher than that of Chinese Han nationality. The morbidity is different among these three nationalities. The dietary preferences cannot be determined as the related influencing factor of knee osteoarthritis. Whether the means of transportation, residence climate and environment, the number of pregnancies and deliveries, drinking tea or not, the type of tea are related to knee osteoarthritis remains unclear.