Low prevalence of knee and back pain in southeast China; the Shantou COPCORD study.

Abstract

The prevalence of knee and lumbar spine pain in this southern urban sample was confirmed to be much lower than in the rural sample in the North, although higher than in the rural sample in the South. Comparing COPCORD studies of Han Chinese in Shanghai and Malaysia there was a decrease in prevalence of knee and back pain with latitude, suggesting an association with climate. Knee and back pain and radiological degenerative changes in the knee and lumbar spine were twice as prevalent in apartment residents than in those living in older single-level houses. Further study is needed to explain these observations.