Research Findings: Understanding health: The relationship between different dimensions of health Summary Papers

Obesity a risk factor for lower joint pain

Joint pain is common among older people in the community and is a major cause of disability.  Identifying risk factors for joint pain in older age that can be modified and managed is therefore of public health interest.  This study collected data from the middle cohort of the Twenty-07 Study when they were aged 58 years and followed them up four years later to look at the relationship between drinking alcohol, smoking and obesity with reported joint pain.  We found that lower limb joint pain was linked to obesity whereas smoking and alcohol consumption showed no consistent link with joint pain in any joints.

Adamson, J., K. Hunt, et al. (2005). "Prevalence and risk factors for joint pain among men and women in the West of Scotland Twenty-07 study." Annals of Rheumatic Diseases 65: 520-524.
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Diagnosis alone is not enough to predict ill health

It is important to public health that measures of poor health in the community do not underestimate health inequalities.  This study examined the relationship between different measures of long-term illness, and physical disability in early old age among a sample of people aged 58 years from the Twenty-07 Study.

We found that frequency of pain from heart conditions, and frequency of joint and muscle pain, and self-assessed health were the most important predictors of long-term physical disability. Measures that include frequency of pain associated with long-term illness and self-reported health may be better predictors of physical disability than simple diagnosis which may mask important associations between certain conditions and physical disability.

Adamson, J., K. Hunt, et al. (2003). "Association of measures of morbidity and locomotor disability: diagnosis alone is not enough." Social Science & Medicine 57(8): 1355-1360.
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