Objective To explore the epidemiology, symptomatology, and distribution of constitutional types in osteoarthritis(OA) patients in Zhaotong City. Methods A survey was conducted using a standardized questionnaire across 9 counties, 1 district, and 1 county-level city in Zhaotong City. The survey gathered information on patients‘ general conditions, chief complaints, symptoms, signs, laboratory tests, and constitutional types. A database was established for effective survey data, and the relationships between patients‘ gender, age, educational level, living environment, disease course, affected sites, and triggering factors were analyzed. Results A total of 2 200 questionnaires were distributed, with 2,026 returned and 1 817 valid cases. Among these, 507 were male(27.9%) and 1 310 were female(72.1%); 629 cases (34.6%) were aged over 65 years, 545 cases (30%) were aged 55~65 years, and 140 cases (7.7%) were under 45 years old. Regarding educational level, 740 cases (40.7%) were illiterate, 389 cases (21.4%) had a primary school education, and 688 cases(37.9%) had a junior high school education or higher. In terms of living environment, 1 817 cases(100%) lived in damp conditions, none in dry conditions; 1 733 cases(95.4%) lived in cold areas, and 84 cases(4.6%) in hot areas; 528 cases (29.1%) lived in flat regions, and 1 289 cases (70.9%) in steep regions; 1 144 cases (63%) resided in rural areas, while 673 cases (37%) were urban dwellers. The main triggering factors were climatic changes (719 cases, 39.6%), joint activity (308 cases, 17%), fatigue (231 cases, 12.7%), and other factors (559 cases, 30.8%). The distribution and frequency of syndromes showed that liver and kidney deficiency occurred in 723 cases (39.8%), cold-damp obstruction in 656 cases (36.1%), phlegm and blood stasis in 187 cases (10.3%), Qi and blood deficiency in 128 cases (7%), and damp-heat obstruction in 123 cases(6.8%). Liver and kidney deficiency and cold-damp obstruction were the most common clinical syndromes(75.9%). Regarding constitutional types, damp-heat constitution was observed in 637 cases (35.1%), Yang deficiency constitution in 474 cases(26.1%), blood stasis constitution in 226 cases(12.4%), Qi deficiency constitution in 189 cases (10.4%), balanced constitution in 112 cases (6.2%), Qi stagnation constitution in 94 cases (5.2%), and phlegm-damp constitution in 85 cases (4.7%). Conclusion The risk factors for OA in Zhaotong City are associated with female gender, advanced age, education level, living environment, climatic conditions, occupational habits, and damp-heat and Yang deficiency constitutions.