Baseline characteristics of patients with hip or knee OA (n = 358)
| Characteristics | Patients with analysable follow up (n = 128) | Excluded at baseline (n = 150) | All drop out patients (n = 80) | Patients dropping out owing to joint replacement (n = 48) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| *p<0.05. | ||||
| SD, standard deviation; PCS, physical component scale; MCS, mental component scale from SF-36. | ||||
| *Significant differences between patients with analysable follow up and one of the other groups, p<0.05. | ||||
| Mean age (years), mean (SD) | 63.9 (9.6) | 68.8 (11.4) | 65.0 (11.3) | 64.9 (9.8) |
| Female (%) | 66.4 | 70.0 | 68.7 | 79.2* |
| Male (%) | 33.6 | 30.0 | 31.3 | 20.8* |
| OA joint | ||||
| Knee (%) | 65.6 | − | 37.5* | 33.3* |
| Hip (%) | 34.4 | − | 62.5* | 67.7* |
| Medication at baseline | ||||
| NSAID (%) | 60.2 | − | 61.3 | 66.7 |
| Analgesic (%) | 3.9 | − | 5.1 | 4.2 |
| NSAID and analgesic (%) | 2.3 | − | 3.8 | 4.2 |
| Chondroitin sulphate (%) | 3.9 | − | 6.4 | 4.2 |
| WOMAC pain | 4.49 | − | 4.95 | 4.91 |
| WOMAC stiffness | 4.55 | − | 5.12* | 4.74 |
| WOMAC function | 4.30 | − | 5.29* | 5.08 |
| SF-36 PCS | 30.3 | − | 28.4 | 29.1 |
| SF-36 MCS | 49.3 | − | 46.4 | 48.2 |