Demographic and clinical characteristics of subjects with painful knee OA at baseline
| Characteristics | Subjects | p Value† | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 600) | |||
| Results are shown as mean (SD) unless indicated otherwise. | |||
| *K&L, Kellgren and Lawrence radiological grade ⩾3 observed in both femorotibial compartments and/or in femoropatellar compartment of the knee studied; †joint effusion was considered as a binary variable: “present” if graded moderate or important, “absent” if graded absent or minimal; only those subjects with effusion present are included here. ‡morning stiffness was also considered as a binary variable: yes, if ⩾30 minutes and no, if ⩽30 minutes; §WOMAC, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA Index, Fisher’s exact test for statistically significant differences between countries. | |||
| Age (years) | 66.7 (9.8) | 0.0125 | |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 29.9 (5.3) | 0.0001 | |
| Sex | 0.0001 | ||
| Male, No (%) | 165 (27.5) | ||
| Female, No (%) | 435 (72.5) | ||
| Disease duration (years) | 6.0 (6.8) | 0.1029 | |
| K&L radiological grade ⩾3*, No (%) | 399 (66.5) | 0.0063 | |
| Knee pain intensity on VAS | 63 (18.5) | 0.0001 | |
| Joint effusion at clinical examination†, No (%) | 204 (34.0) | 0.0001 | |
| Sudden aggravation of knee pain in previous 2 weeks, No (%) | 107 (17.8) | 0.0001 | |
| Duration of morning stiffness (min): | |||
| on VAS | 13.9 (17.9) | 0.5603 | |
| ⩾30 minutes‡, No (%) | 100 (16.7) | 0.9571 | |
| Night awakenings due to knee pain, No (%) | 171 (28.5) | 0.0438 | |
| WOMAC§ | |||
| Pain subscale (0–100) | 51.7 (20.2) | 0.0001 | |
| Stiffness subscale (0–100) | 53.4 (25.3) | 0.0001 | |
| Physical function subscale (0–100) | 52.0 (19.9) | 0.0001 | |
| Clinical knee OA severity on VAS (0-100) | |||
| Patient’s global assessment | 64.2 (21.4) | 0.0001 | |
| Physician’s global assessment | 55.8 (19.5) | 0.0001 | |