Association of obesity with the lower limbs osteoarthritis in a community of women from El Jadida province in Morocco

Background: In the last years, obesity became of interest because of its association with osteoarthritis (OA) which is increasing with the increase of both life expectancy and the prevalence of obesity. Aims: The objective was to assess the association of obesity with the susceptibility of the lower limbs OA (LLOA) occurrence in women. Subjects and Methods: The symptomatic susceptibility of the onset of LLOA was evaluated on a sample of women from El Jadida (Morocco) using the Moroccan version of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) for the lower limbs. Sociodemographic and anthropometric data were collected too using a questionnaire. Results: The surveyed female population was 45±13 years old mostly obese (77%) with an average BMI: 29.18 ± 5.29 and a WHR: 0.93 ± 0.9.  The susceptibility of the LLOA in both forms (knee and coccyx osteoarthritis) was highly prevalent in women older than 50 years (22%). The three dimensions of WOMAC (pain, stiffness and functional impairment) are felt much more among postmenopausal 44.37±26.67 (with a rate of 49%) than procreating women 29.58±22.44 (with a rate of 51%) among women with morbid obesity (69.40±8.27) than normal weight (31.67±4.40) and in women with android (86.13%) than those with a gynoid obesity morphotype (5.10%). Conclusions: The results report an association of obesity with the risk of osteoarthritis occurrence varying with age and OA location hence the importance of preventing osteoarthritis issues through the management of obesity.