Frequency of joint hypermobility in Turkish patients with knee osteoarthritis: a cross sectional multicenter study.

AIM: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is one of the major causes of joint dysfunction and physically disabling conditions in the older population. The risk factors for the development of knee OA are very diverse. We aimed to determine the frequency of joint hypermobility in patients with knee OA. METHODS: Five hundred and three patients (402 female and 101 male) with bilateral knee OA were enrolled in five different clinics from three regions of Turkey. In this study, joint hypermobility was evaluated in the participants by using the Beighton scoring system and a Beighton score of at least 4 was considered as joint hypermobility. Radiological scoring was performed according to Kellgren and Lawrence. RESULTS: The percentages of generalized joint hypermobility were determined as 21.5% in all of the patients, 23.9% in female patients and 11.9% in male patients. The percentage of hypermobility (67.9%) was found to be highest in patients with knee OA aged between 22-30 years as against other age groups. Highest hypermobility percentage was found as 73.9% (17/23) in female patients and as 40% (2/5) in male patients between 22-30 years. The hypermobility of knee was found to have the highest frequency in patients aged between 22-40 years as compared to other joint regions and also to be second-highest frequency in all patients aged between 41-92 years. As a result, generalized joint hypermobility was determined to be of high frequency in patients with knee OA. Furthermore, we have seen that knee mobility was established to be of considerably high frequency in patients with knee OA. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed generalized joint hypermobility and knee hypermobility may be associated with knee OA. According to the results of this study, we can suggest that generalized joint hypermobility and also knee hypermobility may increase the risk of knee OA. According to this study, it should be considered that knee OA will develop in individuals who have generalized joint hypermobility and these individuals should be educated from this point before OA it occurs.

Seronegative brucellosis of the spine: A case of psoas abscess secondary to brucellar spondylitis.

Brucellosis is an infectious disease that affects many organ systems. Osteoarticular involvement, especially spondylitis, is the most common complication of brucellosis, but psoas abscess is very rare. Serological tests at diagnosis of the disease are very valuable and most widely used. Herein, we report a case of psoas abscess secondary to brucellar spondylitis. In this case, interestingly, the serological test results were negative, and the diagnosis could be made by abscess culture. In patients, particularly those who live in areas endemic for brucellosis, as in our case, it should be kept in mind that a negative serological test result should not exclude the diagnosis of brucellosis.

Comparison of radiological indices (SASSS, M-SASSS, BASRI-s, BASRI-t) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

This study was performed to compare radiologic methods of Bath Ankylosing Spondilitis Radiology Index-spine (BASRI-s), Bath Ankylosing Spondilitis Radiology Index-total (BASRI-t), Stoke Ankylosing Spondilitis Spine Score (SASSS) and Modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondilitis Spine Score (M-SASSS) and to test their superiority over each other. Eighty-one patients (60 males, 21 females) with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) were included in the study. Patients were evaluated for their functional status, disease activity, quality of life, and spinal mobility using Bath AS Functional Index (BASFI), Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), AS Quality of Life Index (ASQoL) scale, and Bath AS Metrology Index (BASMI), respectively. Radiographs of the patients were evaluated using BASRI-s, BASRI-t, SASSS, and M-SASSS methods. Spearman's correlation test was used for the correlation analysis. Significant correlations were found between the duration of disease with radiological indices (P < 0.05), BASMI with SASSS (P < 0.01), M-SASSS (P < 0.01), BASRI-s (P < 0.01), and BASRI-t (P < 0.01). Furthermore, there were correlations between BASFI with SASSS (P < 0.05), M-SASSS (P < 0.05), BASRI-s (P < 0.05). and BASRI-t (P < 0.05). According to the results of our study, among these four radiological measuring methods, SASSS appears to be the one that is the least reflective of patient status. The reason to that is the fact that while in SASSS method only lumbosacral radiography is evaluated, in other methods one more area is evaluated. However, the disadvantages of BASRI methods relative to others, in BASRI methods, patients are exposed to more radiation.