Abstract: Objective To investigate the status of osteoarthritis(OA) and its influencing factors among ruralm inority residents in Guizhou province for providing reference of osteoarthritis diagnostic criteria.Methods A total of 2866 residents aged 20-86 years randomly selected from ruralm inority in 20 villages were enrolled in a survey in Guizhou province with questionnaire survey,physical and X-ray examination.SPSS 13.0 was used in data analysis.Results The prevalence rate of OA was 27.98% and the standardization rate of OA was 281.9%.The clinic resea rches showed that the prevalence rate of OA in men was 21/48% with a standardization rate of 21.62%,and those rates of women were 39.88% and 40.03%.The women had a significant higher prevalence of OA than men(χ²=689.96,P < 0.01).The prevalence of OA increased obviously with the increment of age(χ²=263.27,P < 0.01).Logistic regression analysis suggested that the related factors of OA were age,sex,body mass index(BMI) and resident place1.Conclusion Residents with BMI\24,with working intencity of 3 degree or more,residing at top of mountain,and at age of 50 years or more are the populations at higher risk of OA in Guizhou minority area.