The Burden of Pain Associated with Osteoarthritis in the Hip or Knee from the Patient's Perspective: A Multinational Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

IntroductionTo evaluate, from the patient’s perspective, the burden of pain associated with hip/knee osteoarthritis (OA) in the USA and selected European Union (EU) countries.MethodsData were drawn from the 2017 global Adelphi OA Disease Specific Programme™ (DSP). Patients with hip/knee OA were stratified based on pain intensity and the presence/absence of current opioid use. Outcomes included Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores, functional limitations, unmet treatment needs, Charlson Comorbidity Index, relevant comorbid conditions, the 5-dimension 5-level EuroQol, and the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire: Specific Health Problem. Bivariate testing compared outcomes using patients with no/mild pain without opioid use as the reference group.ResultsThe study population comprised 2170 patients (US: n = 623 [28.7%]; EU: n = 1547 [71.3%]) with knee (54.9%), hip (24.6%), or knee/hip (20.5%) OA. Mean (SD) age was 66.4 (11.2) years. Patients had no/mild pain without opioid use (39.6%), no/mild pain with opioid use (10.2%), moderate/severe pain without opioid use (30.6%), and moderate/severe pain with opioid use (19.7%). Compared with the reference group, patients with moderate/severe pain reported significantly (p < 0.05) higher functional limitations, greater use of ≥ 3 treatments and treatment dissatisfaction, reduced quality of life, and impaired work productivity and activity. The burden was highest with moderate/severe pain with opioid use. Results were generally similar in the US and EU cohorts.ConclusionsThe results from this multinational cross-sectional study indicate that the impact of OA pain is multidimensional, worsened by increasing pain intensity, and may not be adequately addressed by current treatment strategies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12325-020-01445-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.