OSTEOARTHRITIS;

Objectives: To determine the pattern of symptomatic and radiographicosteoarthritis in the urban population of Karachi. Data Source: Outpatient clinics. Design ofStudy: Cross sectional observational. Setting: Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi. Period:August 2015 till July 2016. Materials and Methods: Symptomatic patients belonging to bothgenders, aged ≥ 30 years, having clinical and radiographic osteoarthritis involving knee, hip,spine, hand, foot and shoulder were included. Diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis was based onAmerican College of Rheumatology criteria, whereas the diagnosis of other joint areas wasbased on clinical and radiographic features. Patients were categorized as having monofocal ormultifocal osteoarthritis. The results were interpreted as frequencies and percentages. Results:Of the total 215 patients, 137 (63.7%) were females and 78 (36.27%) were males with meanage of 52.2 ± 9.3 years. Monofocal and multifocal osteoarthritis was found in 151 (70.23%) and64 (31.2%) patients respectively. Knee osteoarthritis (92.7%) was the most frequent monofocalpresentation. Of 64 patients with multifocal osteoarthritis, knee and hip joint were involved in28 (43.75%) and knee and hand osteoarthritis was found in 13 (20.3%) patients. Seven patients(10.9%) had osteoarthritis of three or more joints. Overall bilateral knee osteoarthritis wasfound in 158 (77.45%) patients. Conclusion: Bilateral symptomatic and radiographic kneeosteoarthritis was the most common presentation. Comparatively less proportion of patientshad osteoarthritis of three or more joints.