ArticleAnnals of the rheumatic diseases1999
Prevalence of joint pain is higher among women in rural Japan than urban Japanese-American women in Hawaii.
Article in Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 1999. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- The prevalence of neck pain in the world population: a systematic critical review of the literature.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2006Pooled it
- Effect of a low-intensity, self-management lifestyle intervention on knee pain in community-based young to middle-aged rural women: a cluster randomised controlled trial.Arthritis research & therapy · 2018Trial
- Tibial morphological variations reveal medial proximal tibial angle discrepancies in Japanese patients: Three-type classification for high tibial osteotomy.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2025Article
- Long-Term Pain Management and Health Care Resource Use Among an Employed Population in Japan with Knee Osteoarthritis Combined with Low Back Pain.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2021Article
- Square wave manoeuvre for apogeotropic variant of horizontal canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in neck restricted patients.Journal of otology · 2021Article
- Longitudinal Assessment of Pain Management Among the Employed Japanese Population with Knee Osteoarthritis.Clinical interventions in aging · 2020Article
- Prevalence of knee pain and its influence on quality of life and physical function in the Korean elderly population: a community based cross-sectional study.Journal of Korean medical science · 2011Article
- Comparison of performance-based measures among native Japanese, Japanese-Americans in Hawaii and Caucasian women in the United States, ages 65 years and over: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2001Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveEnvironmental factors such as farming contribute to the frequency of joint symptoms. The purpose of this study is to explore the possible role of environment (lifestyle), by comparing the prevalence of joint pain between Japanese in a rural farming district in Japan and in urban Hawaii. SUBJECTS AND
methodsCurrent or previous pain at specific joints was surveyed among 222 women in rural Japan and 638 Japanese women in urban Hawaii aged 60-79. The age adjusted prevalence was compared using logistic regression.
resultsThe prevalence of pain at one or more joints was approximately 70% in Japan and 50% in Hawaii. The prevalence of knee pain in Japan ranged from 36% at ages 60-69 years to 53% at 70-79 years (mean 41%), whereas knee pain affected only 20% of women in Hawaii in both age groups. The odds ratio (and 95% CI) was 3.2 (2.1, 4.8) for knee pain, and 4.0 (2.2, 7.4) for mid-back pain in Japan, compared with Hawaii. Pain was also significantly more common in Japan at the shoulder, elbow, and ankle, but not at other joints. Women in Japan were shorter and weighed less than in Hawaii. Adjustment for body mass index increased the odds ratios to 4.4 (2.9, 6.8) for knee, and 4.5 (2.4, 8.5) for mid-back pain.
conclusionAlthough the potential influence of cultural factors or other sources of bias cannot be ruled out, the large differences in the prevalence of pain at specific joints suggest that environmental factors are probably responsible, because both populations are of similar genetic stock.
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