Premium
Prevalence of joint hypermobility in Kuwait
Author(s) -
AlJarallah Khaled,
Shehab Diaa,
AlJaser Munirah T.,
AlAzemi Khaled M.,
Wais Fatma F.,
AlSaleh Ahmed M.,
AlAjmi Abdulhadi S.,
AlOmairah Hamad A.,
Abraham Mini,
Sharma Prem N.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of rheumatic diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1756-185X
pISSN - 1756-1841
DOI - 10.1111/1756-185x.12556
Subject(s) - joint hypermobility , medicine , hypermobility (travel) , trunk , physical therapy , elbow , joint pain , cross sectional study , surgery , pathology , ecology , biology
Aim To determine the prevalence of joint hypermobility ( JH ) among young Kuwaiti adults. Methods This was a cross‐sectional study of 390 randomly selected healthy undergraduate university students, aged 18–29 years from the Health Sciences Centre, Kuwait University, Safat, Kuwait. Beighton score at four peripheral sites bilaterally (knees, elbows, thumbs and fifth fingers) and forward flexion of the trunk were used to evaluate joint hypermobility. Any student who met four out of the nine criteria was considered hypermobile. Joint pain was documented in all subjects through personal interview. Results A total of 390 subjects (male : female ratio 1.0 : 0.9) were assessed. Of those, 87 (22.3%) were found to have JH : 60 (29.4%) males and 27 (14.5%) females, showing a significantly higher male predominance ( P < 0.001). Beighton score was inversely correlated with age (ρ = −0.15, P = 0.003). A higher incidence of finger signs was noted in comparison to elbow‐knee hyperextension and hands‐to‐floor. Knee joint, back, neck and shoulder pains, in descending order, were the commonest type of joint complaints, although not statistically significant ( P > 0.05) in subjects with and without joint hypermobility. It was also observed that the left side, at all the sites, was slightly more hypermobile in comparison to the right side in hypermobile subjects. Conclusions The prevalence of joint hypermobility is not uncommon among young Kuwaiti adults, and was comparable to the data published in other Asian‐Pacific regions. General practitioners should therefore be familiar with the condition and its clinical associations, while assessing musculoskeletal complaints.