Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and is often not clinically diagnosed and managed. There are also no systematic reviews of literature relating to the prevalence of MSDs among people with diabetes.
Objective: To determine the prevalence and areas of the body affected by MSDs in diabetic patients.
Methods: A literature search of the electronic databases of CINAH, PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar using the keywords of "MSDs and DM" as the search term was conducted. Pooled estimates were calculated using a meta-analysis of proportion.
Results: Five thousand and eighty-eight studies were identified from the databases; 21 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Five studies were of high quality, 13 were of moderate quality and three were of low quality. The prevalence of all types of MSDs among patients with diabetes was 58.15% (95% CI 41.4%-73.9%). The hand was the most common area of the body affected being 33.05% (95% CI 21.1-46.13) followed by the shoulder.
Conclusions: A high prevalence of MSDs was found among diabetic patients with the hand and shoulder being the most frequently reported areas affected. However, future studies with a larger sample and the relevant type of diabetes are required.
Keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders; diabetes; prevalence.