The Recognition of Locomotive Syndrome in 2014: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Orthopeadic Outpatients in Tokyo

Background: To prevent locomotor dysfunction, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) proposed the concept of locomotive syndrome (LS) in 2007, and has carried out numerous campaigns to increase the awareness of LS. We previously surveyed the recognition of LS and reported that 24.6% of outpatients knew about it in 2013. Were surveyed the recognition of LS and the prevalence of LS in 2014 to elucidate the effects and trends of the recognition of LS and the promotion campaigns.
Methods: To investigate the recognition of LS and the prevalence of LS, we conducted a questionnaire survey including both the 25-question Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale (GLFS-25) and the “loco-check” in 1,027 (450 male and 577 female) orthopaedic outpatients. This survey was performed at Juntendo University Hospital (Tokyo, Japan), from March to June 2014.
Results: The concept about LS was known to 26.4% of the patients, which was increased 1.8% in comparison to our survey in 2013. And, the most common media source to obtain information about LS was TV. Newspapers and magazines were also common media sources. In terms of the prevalence of LS in orthopaedic outpatients, 60.5% (734 of 1,027 people who answered the questions) were classified into the LS high-risk group as determined using the GLFS-25. The prevalence of LS was 54.9% in males and 64.3% in females.
Conclusion: We investigated the recognition of LS and the prevalence of LS using an outpatient cohort from the Tokyo area. This study demonstrated that the recognition of LS in 2014 was 26.4%, which increased by 1.8% compared to our survey in 2013. Our outpatient-based survey is therefore considered to positively help obtain a better understanding of the effects and trends of promoting the concept of LS.