Introduction: Osteoarthritis is characterized by the breakdown and loss of joint cartillage, increased bone density just underneath the cartillage and bone hypertrophy on the edges of the joint surfaces. The aim of the study was to determine the age and sex distribution, as well as the incidence of metabolic and endocrine diseases in patients with osteoarthritis.
Material and methods: The research included 347 patients hospitalized at the Clinic for Medical Rehabilitation in Novi Sad during 2005.
Results: Analysis of the age distribution shows that most patients over sixty years of age have degenerative changes of the peripheral joints and large percentage of the working population has changes of the spinal column. The most frequent metabolic disease is obesity (74% of patients), followed by diabetes, ostheoporosis and hypothyroidism. The average age of surgically treated women is lower compared with the surgically treated men.
Conclusion: By analyzing the results of the study, we can conclude that there is a large incidence of metabolic and endocrine diseases among patients with osteoarthritis, as well as that rehabilitation leads to faster and a more complete recovery of patients with degenerative joint diseases.