Prevalence of radiographic osteoarthritis of the hands in Saudi Arabia.

We studied the radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hands in 300 patients (167 male, 133 female) attending 14 primary care facilities for a variety of medical conditions. Radiographic OA was seen in 30.3% of males and 36.3% of females. Most commonly affected were the metacarpophalangeal joints, followed by the distal interphalangeal and carpometacarpophalangeal joints.