Hand Osteoarthritis: Two Studies

One study focused on prevalence; the other assessed the effect of occupational therapy on arthritis at the base of the thumb.

Primary care clinicians probably underdiagnose hand osteoarthritis (OA) compared with knee and hip OA, which seem to get more attention in the medical literature. Two new studies address hand OA.

During a long-term prospective study of people with knee OA, researchers also inquired about arthritic hand symptoms and obtained hand x-rays at baseline and 4 years. Key findings among 3600 participants (age range, 45–79; mean age, 61) included the following:

Baseline prevalence of radiographic hand OA was 41%, and baseline prevalence of symptomatic hand OA (i.e., symptoms that correlated anatomically with x-ray findings) was 12%. During the 4-year follow-up, prevalence of symptomatic hand OA doubled.
Symptomatic hand OA prevalence increased with age…

Reviewing Author

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Hand Osteoarthritis: Two Studies

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Reviewing Author