Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 2005 Jan;64(1):99–104. doi: 10.1136/ard.2003.017087

Prevalence and determinants of one month hand pain and hand related disability in the elderly (Rotterdam study)

S Dahaghin 1, S Bierma-Zeinstra 1, M Reijman 1, H Pols 1, J Hazes 1, B Koes 1
PMCID: PMC1755169  PMID: 15608306

Abstract

Objective: To study the prevalence of hand pain and hand disability in an open population, and the contribution of their potential determinants.

Methods: Baseline data were used from 7983 participants in the Rotterdam study (a population based study in people aged ⩾55 years). A home interview was used to determine the presence of hand pain during the previous month, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis in any joint, diabetes, stroke, thyroid disease, neck/shoulder pain, gout, history of fracture in the past five years, and Parkinson's disease, as well as age, sex, and occupation. Hand disability was defined as the mean score of eight questions related to hand function. Body mass index was measured and hand x rays were taken.

Results: The one month period prevalence of hand pain was 16.9%. The prevalence of hand disability was 13.6%. In univariate analysis for hand pain, rheumatoid arthritis had the highest explained variance (R2) and odds ratio. For hand disability, aging showed the highest explained variance and Parkinson's disease had the highest odds ratio. All determinants together showed an explained variance of 19.8% for hand pain and 25.2% for hand disability. In multivariate analysis, positive radiographic hand osteoarthritis was a poor explanation for hand pain (R2 = 0.5%) or hand disability (R2 = 0).

Conclusions: The contribution of available potential determinants in this study was about 20% for hand pain and 25% for hand disability in an unselected population of elderly people. Thus a greater part of hand pain/hand disability remains unexplained.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (80.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Acheson R. M. Heberden Oration 1981: epidemiology and the arthritides. Ann Rheum Dis. 1982 Aug;41(4):325–334. doi: 10.1136/ard.41.4.325. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Allander E. Epidemiology of the rheumatic diseases. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 1994 Mar;6(2):122–131. doi: 10.1097/00002281-199403000-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bruce Bonnie, Fries James F. The Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire: dimensions and practical applications. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2003 Jun 9;1:20–20. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-1-20. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Carmeli Eli, Patish Hagar, Coleman Raymond. The aging hand. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2003 Feb;58(2):146–152. doi: 10.1093/gerona/58.2.m146. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dellhag B., Bjelle A. A five-year followup of hand function and activities of daily living in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Arthritis Care Res. 1999 Feb;12(1):33–41. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(199902)12:1<33::aid-art6>3.0.co;2-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dellhag B., Hosseini N., Bremell T., Ingvarsson P. E. Disturbed grip function in women with rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol. 2001 Dec;28(12):2624–2633. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dillon Charles, Petersen Martin, Tanaka Shiro. Self-reported hand and wrist arthritis and occupation: data from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey-Occupational Health Supplement. Am J Ind Med. 2002 Oct;42(4):318–327. doi: 10.1002/ajim.10117. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Eberhardt K. B., Fex E. Functional impairment and disability in early rheumatoid arthritis--development over 5 years. J Rheumatol. 1995 Jun;22(6):1037–1042. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Elliott A. M., Smith B. H., Penny K. I., Smith W. C., Chambers W. A. The epidemiology of chronic pain in the community. Lancet. 1999 Oct 9;354(9186):1248–1252. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(99)03057-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fredriksson K., Alfredsson L., Köster M., Thorbjörnsson C. B., Toomingas A., Torgén M., Kilbom A. Risk factors for neck and upper limb disorders: results from 24 years of follow up. Occup Environ Med. 1999 Jan;56(1):59–66. doi: 10.1136/oem.56.1.59. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Fries J. F., Spitz P. W., Young D. Y. The dimensions of health outcomes: the health assessment questionnaire, disability and pain scales. J Rheumatol. 1982 Sep-Oct;9(5):789–793. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Harris Tamara B. Invited commentary: body composition in studies of aging: new opportunities to better understand health risks associated with weight. Am J Epidemiol. 2002 Jul 15;156(2):122–126. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwf024. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Helme R. D., Gibson S. J. The epidemiology of pain in elderly people. Clin Geriatr Med. 2001 Aug;17(3):417-31, v. doi: 10.1016/s0749-0690(05)70078-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hirsch R., Lethbridge-Cejku M., Hanson R., Scott W. W., Jr, Reichle R., Plato C. C., Tobin J. D., Hochberg M. C. Familial aggregation of osteoarthritis: data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging. Arthritis Rheum. 1998 Jul;41(7):1227–1232. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(199807)41:7<1227::AID-ART13>3.0.CO;2-N. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hirsch R., Lethbridge-Cejku M., Scott W. W., Jr, Reichle R., Plato C. C., Tobin J., Hochberg M. C. Association of hand and knee osteoarthritis: evidence for a polyarticular disease subset. Ann Rheum Dis. 1996 Jan;55(1):25–29. doi: 10.1136/ard.55.1.25. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hofman A., Grobbee D. E., de Jong P. T., van den Ouweland F. A. Determinants of disease and disability in the elderly: the Rotterdam Elderly Study. Eur J Epidemiol. 1991 Jul;7(4):403–422. doi: 10.1007/BF00145007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kalb R. L. Evaluation and treatment of wrist and hand pain. Hosp Pract (1995) 1998 Mar 15;33(3):129-32, 135. doi: 10.1080/21548331.1998.11443657. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kallman D. A., Wigley F. M., Scott W. W., Jr, Hochberg M. C., Tobin J. D. New radiographic grading scales for osteoarthritis of the hand. Reliability for determining prevalence and progression. Arthritis Rheum. 1989 Dec;32(12):1584–1591. doi: 10.1002/anr.1780321213. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Karpitskaya Yekaterina, Novak Christine B., Mackinnon Susan E. Prevalence of smoking, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and thyroid disease in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. Ann Plast Surg. 2002 Mar;48(3):269–273. doi: 10.1097/00000637-200203000-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Lawrence R. C., Helmick C. G., Arnett F. C., Deyo R. A., Felson D. T., Giannini E. H., Heyse S. P., Hirsch R., Hochberg M. C., Hunder G. G. Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and selected musculoskeletal disorders in the United States. Arthritis Rheum. 1998 May;41(5):778–799. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(199805)41:5<778::AID-ART4>3.0.CO;2-V. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Liang M. H., Larson M. G., Cullen K. E., Schwartz J. A. Comparative measurement efficiency and sensitivity of five health status instruments for arthritis research. Arthritis Rheum. 1985 May;28(5):542–547. doi: 10.1002/art.1780280513. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Limaye V., Frankham A., Disney A., Pile K. Evaluation of hand function in patients undergoing long term haemodialysis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2001 Mar;60(3):278–280. doi: 10.1136/ard.60.3.278. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Makabe H., Sakamoto K. Judgment of disability stages in Parkinson disease patients due to pathological tremor of index finger. Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol. 2000 Oct-Nov;40(7):397–409. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Moore J. R., Weiland A. J. Gouty tenosynovitis in the hand. J Hand Surg Am. 1985 Mar;10(2):291–295. doi: 10.1016/s0363-5023(85)80127-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Odding E., Valkenburg H. A., Algra D., Vandenouweland F. A., Grobbee D. E., Hofman A. Associations of radiological osteoarthritis of the hip and knee with locomotor disability in the Rotterdam Study. Ann Rheum Dis. 1998 Apr;57(4):203–208. doi: 10.1136/ard.57.4.203. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Palmer K. T., Syddall H., Cooper C., Coggon D. Smoking and musculoskeletal disorders: findings from a British national survey. Ann Rheum Dis. 2003 Jan;62(1):33–36. doi: 10.1136/ard.62.1.33. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Palmer Keith T. Regional musculoskeletal conditions: pain in the forearm, wrist and hand. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol. 2003 Feb;17(1):113–135. doi: 10.1016/s1521-6942(02)00100-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Picavet H. S. J., Hazes J. M. W. Prevalence of self reported musculoskeletal diseases is high. Ann Rheum Dis. 2003 Jul;62(7):644–650. doi: 10.1136/ard.62.7.644. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Qiao Q., Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi S., Rajala U., Uusimäki A., Kivelä S. L. Rheumatic pains of previously undiagnosed diabetic subjects. Scand J Rheumatol. 1995;24(4):234–237. doi: 10.3109/03009749509100880. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Rasch Elizabeth K., Hirsch Rosemarie, Paulose-Ram Ryne, Hochberg Marc C. Prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in persons 60 years of age and older in the United States: effect of different methods of case classification. Arthritis Rheum. 2003 Apr;48(4):917–926. doi: 10.1002/art.10897. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Siegert C. E., Vleming L. J., Vandenbroucke J. P., Cats A. Measurement of disability in Dutch rheumatoid arthritis patients. Clin Rheumatol. 1984 Sep;3(3):305–309. doi: 10.1007/BF02032335. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Urwin M., Symmons D., Allison T., Brammah T., Busby H., Roxby M., Simmons A., Williams G. Estimating the burden of musculoskeletal disorders in the community: the comparative prevalence of symptoms at different anatomical sites, and the relation to social deprivation. Ann Rheum Dis. 1998 Nov;57(11):649–655. doi: 10.1136/ard.57.11.649. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Viegas S. F. Atypical causes of hand pain. Am Fam Physician. 1987 Jan;35(1):167–172. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Wilder-Smith O. H., Möhrle J. J., Dolin P. J., Martin N. C. The management of chronic pain in Switzerland: a comparative survey of Swiss medical specialists treating chronic pain. Eur J Pain. 2001;5(3):285–298. doi: 10.1053/eujp.2001.0248. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Zyluk A., Zyluk B. Zespó bark-reka u chorych po udarze mózgu. Neurol Neurochir Pol. 1999 Jan-Feb;33(1):131–142. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. van der Heijde D. M., van Riel P. L., van de Putte L. B. Sensitivity of a Dutch Health Assessment Questionnaire in a trial comparing hydroxychloroquine vs. sulphasalazine. Scand J Rheumatol. 1990;19(6):407–412. doi: 10.3109/03009749009097629. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Supplementary Materials

[Table 5]
annrheumd_64_1_99__index.html (1.3KB, html)
annrheumd_64_1_99__1.pdf (78.5KB, pdf)

Articles from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES