Table 3

Effect of hand exercises in 80 women with hand osteoarthritis (HOA) randomised to receive information plus hand exercises (exercise group) or information only (control group)

	Mean change exercise group (n=37)			Mean change control group (n=34)			Adjusted mean differences between groups
	Mean change	95% CI	p Value	Mean change	95% CI	p Value	Mean difference	95% CI	p Value	Effect size
Primary outcome
Patient-Specific Functional Scale* (0–10, 10=no activity limitations	1.8	1.2 to 2.5	<0.001	0.2	−0.5 to 0.7	0.62	1.4	0.6 to 2.2	<0.001	1.0
Secondary outcomes
Disease activity† (0–10, 0=no activity)	−0.7	−1.4 to 0.09	0.08	0.4	−0.1 to 0.8	0.14	−0.8	−1.7 to 0.02	0.06	−0.4
Fatigue† (0–10, 0=no fatigue)	−0.7	−1.8 to 0.4	0.19	0.5	−0.2 to 1.1	0.17	−1.1	−2.3 to 0.00	0.05	−0.4
Joint pain† (0–10, 0=no pain)	−1.1	−1.9 to −0.3	0.007	0.3	−0.2 to 0.8	0.23	−1.1	−2.0 to −0.2	0.02	−0.6
Joint stiffness† (0–10, 0=no stiffness)	−1.2	−2.1 to −0.4	0.004	−0.2	−0.7 to 0.3	0.43	−0.7	−1.6 to 0.2	0.14	−0.3
Number of painful† joints (0–15)
Right hand	−0.9	−1.9 to 0.2	0.11	0.3	−0.7 to 1.2	0.56	−0.9	−2.2 to 0.4	0.16	−0.3
Left hand	−1.6	−1.6 to 0.04	0.06	−0.1	−0.9 to 0.8	0.83	−0.6	−1.6 to 0.4	0.21	−0.2
Maximum grip strength† (Newton)
Right hand	42.4	20.0 to 64.7	<0.001	−8.8	−24.5 to 6.7	0.26	53.5	27.8 to 79.1	<0.001	0.7
Left hand	31.7	14.1 to 49.4	0.001	−10.7	−24.5 to 3.0	0.12	44.6	23.4 to 65.8	<0.001	0.7
Pain after measuring grip strength† (0–10, 0=no pain)
Right hand	−1.0	−1.8 to −0.2	0.02	−0.3	−1.3 to 0.6	0.49	−0.5	−1.4 to 0.5	0.35	−0.2
Left hand	−1.0	−1.7 to −0.2	0.02	−0.4	−1.2 to 0.5	0.37	−0.5	−1.4 to 0.4	0.28	−0.2
Total flexion deficit 2–5 digit† (mm)
Right hand	2.8	−4.0 to 9.6	0.41	5.4	1.4 to 9.4	0.009	−2.5	−10.2 to 5.1	0.51	−0.1
Left hand	2.1	−2.8 to 7.1	0.39	5.6	−0.4 to 11.3	0.07	−3.3	−10.8 to 4.2	0.38	−0.1
Thumb opposition deficit† (mm)
Right hand	0.5	−3.0 to 3.9	0.79	−0.3	−3.1 to 2.6	0.83	0.4	−3.8 to 4.5	0.86	0.0
Left hand	−1.6	−3.0 to 3.9	0.28	2.6	−0.5 to 5.8	0.10	−2.6	−6.5 to 1.3	0.19	−0.3
Thumb web space* (1–12, 12=normal web space)
Right hand	0.4	0.03 to 0.8	0.04	−0.2	−0.5 to 0.2	0.33	0.6	0.1 to 1.1	0.018	0.4
Left hand	0.7	0.3 to 1.1	0.001	0.1	−0.3 to 0.4	0.72	0.7	0.2 to 1.2	0.007	0.4
Functional Index for HOA† (0–30, 0=no activity limitations)	−2.2	−4.0 to −0.4	0.02	1.7	0.8 to 2.4	<0.001	−3.2	−5.0 to −1.4	0.001	−0.6

Mean change scores within the groups were examined with paired samples t tests. Mean change between baseline and 3 months is calculated as values at 3 months minus baseline values. An analysis of covariance was used to estimate between-group differences at the 3-month follow-up, taking baseline values as covariates.
The magnitude of the effect size is regarded as trivial (<0.20), small (0.20–0.49), moderate (0.50–0.79) and large (≥0.80).41
*Positive values are positive changes; †negative values are positive changes.