The impact of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis on health status

Abstract EN

Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis (OP) are major causes of pain and disability, especially in the elderly.

It is known that generic health status measures enable comparison of different groups.

In this study, the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), which measures physical, social and emotional effects of illness across six dimensions was used to compare health status in osteoarthritic and osteoporotic women.

Methods: Ninety-six consecutive OA patients and 45 consecutive OP patients were recruited from the Rheumatology Clinics and their data were analysed.

The mean age of OP patients was 67 + 7 years.

They were older than OA cases whose mean age was 63+ 8.6 years.

All patients completed the NHP and the HAQ questionnaires.

Clinical assessment of tender and swollen joints, pain measurement on a hundred millimetre visual analogue scale (VAS) as well as Kellegren and Lawrence X-ray scoring of x-rays of the lumber spine, both knees and both hips were performed.

Results: NHP showed that OA patients reported severe changes in health status in the levels of pain, physical disability and emotional disturbance.

Each of these differences was significant (p <0.05 and <0.0001 respectively).

Interestingly, the Mann-Witney U-test showed no difference between the two groups in the level of low energy, sleep disturbance or social isolation domains.

Also, we examined the level of distress in these patients using the (NHPD) which also showed similar levels of distress in the two groups (OA: 6 + 4; OP: 5 + 5).

Comparison with values from normal women matched for age and social class (derived from 6506 healthy controls) highlighted the extent to which both OA and OP affect energy, pain, physical function and sleep.

Conclusion: These results highlight the impact of OA and OP on the health status of patients including loss of energy, sleep disturbance and social isolation.

Also the psychological effects and distress these rheumatic diseases have on patients.