Endemic Kashin–Beck disease: A food-sourced osteoarthropathy

• Published in: Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 366 - 372
• Main Authors: Wang, Kewei, Yu, Jun, Liu, Hui, Liu, Yunqi, Liu, Ning, Cao, Yanhong, Zhang, Xufeng, Sun, Dianjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Case-Control Studies; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Epidemics; Female; Food - adverse effects; Fungal contamination of grain; Humans; Imbalance of protein intake; Incidence; Intervention trial; Kashin-Beck Disease - epidemiology; Kashin-Beck Disease - prevention & control; Kashin–Beck disease; Male; Multivariate linear regression; Population Surveillance; Selenium deficiency; Selenium deficiency; Imbalance of protein intake; Multivariate linear regression; Intervention trial; Kashin–Beck disease; Fungal contamination of grain
• ISSN: 0049-0172; 1532-866X; 1532-866X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2019.07.014

Kashin–Beck disease (KBD) is an endemic osteoarthropathy, which causes disability and heavy socioeconomic burdens. The preventive measures have been taken in the past few decades. However, recent KBD-epidemiological trend and comprehensive effect of its preventive measures need to be evaluated. By employing typical survey, cross-sectional survey, case-control study, intervention trial, and national surveillance, the present study summarizes comprehensive role of KBD-preventive measures. The endemic KBD is distributed in a long and narrow area of the world. The latest epidemic began in the late 1950s and lasted until the end of 1980s. Epidemiology of the KBD was characterized by early-onset, gender equality, agricultural area, regional discrepancy, family aggregation, annual fluctuation, etc. Multivariate regression analysis suggested that etiology of the KBD was food-related factors such as fungal contamination of grains, selenium deficiency, imbalance of protein intake, etc. A series of intervention measures for KBD control had been implemented since 1990s, and involved more than 300 million residents. National incidences were 22.1% in 1990, 16.0% in 1995, 12.3% in 2000, 5.5% in 2005, 0.38% in 2010, and 0.18 in 2015, respectively. Although new patients were annually decreased, it still affected 22,567,600 inhabitants and there were 574,925 patients in 2016. Etiology of the KBD is food-sourced. Its decreased incidence may attribute to an effective implementation of preventive measures. It is possible to eradicate KBD from the earth in the near future.