DEGENERATIVE KNEE ARTHYRITI- . IN DIABETIC PATIENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to compare the severity of the degenerative knee arthritis in diabetic to that in the non-diabetic patients. This study was done on forty non-diabetic patients and another forty diabetic patients with knee pain due to osteoarthritis. Patients were selected having a body weight < 85 kg, no hyperuracemia, with no history of lower limb trauma, lower limb fracture or any other rheumatic disorder. Heavy manual workers were excluded. Patients aged from 40 - 65 years. Seventy percent of non-diabetic patients had bilateral knee pain, while 82.5 % of the diabetic patients had bilateral knee pain, the remaining subjects had unilateral knee pam.

Patients were examined clinically and the following were recorded: demographic data, history of DM, the presence of other associated illness, knee pain severity (using visual analogue scale), knee tenderness evaluation, clinical knee examination (increased temperature, crepitus, alignment; swelling, knee effusion, knee stability, muscle power, muscle wasting and knee range of motion), complete neurological examination of both lower limbs, functional capacity evaluation and radiological assessment of the painful knees (using Kellgren & Lawrence grading system and the German point score). The collected data in the diabetic patients were compared to these data in the non-diabetic group. Also, the correlation between knee pain severity and the knee radiological fmdings was performed.

The results revealed no significant difference between the diabetic and the non­ diabetic groups as regard to age, sex, height, weight, BMI and uric acid level. However, pain severity and knee tenderness were significantly more severe in the non-diabetic group compared to the diabetic group.