Treatment effectiveness evaluated for the OARSI responder criteria
| Outcome measure | 3 months | 6 months | 12 months | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No JP* | JP | No HEx* | HEx | No JP* | JP | No HEx* | HEx | No JP* | JP | No HEx* | HEx | |
| n | 130 | 127 | 127 | 130 | 130 | 127 | 127 | 130 | 130 | 127 | 127 | 130 |
| ‘Responders’ (OARSI)†, n (%) | 22 (17) | 28 (22) | 24 (19) | 26 (20) | 27 (21) | 42 (33) | 32 (25) | 36 (28) | 27 (21) | 34 (27) | 24 (19) | 38 (29) |
| Adjusted‡ OR(95% CI) | 1.35 (0.68 to 2.68) | 0.99 (0.50 to 1.95) | 2.10 (1.09 to 4.04) | 1.14 (0.59 to 2.20) | 1.57 (0.83 to 3.00) | 1.76 (0.93 to 3.34) | ||||||
*Reference category.
†Participants met the OARSI responder criteria if (a) relative change in AUSCAN pain or function was ≥50% and absolute change was ≥20 or (b) at least two of the following applied: relative change in pain ≥20% and absolute change ≥10, relative change in function ≥20% and absolute change ≥10 or participants reported they were better, much better, or completely recovered on the global assessment of change question. Absolute change (baseline—follow-up score) and relative change (absolute change/baseline score) were calculated after AUSCAN measures were scaled from 1 to 101 to avoid dividing by 0 when calculating relative change.24 Responses in the ‘better’, ‘much better’ or ‘completely recovered’ categories on the global assessment of change question were defined as ‘improvement’.
‡Adjusted for age, gender, social class, General Practitioner (GP) practice and length of time with a hand condition and the other main effect of interest.
AUSCAN, Australian Canadian Hand Osteoarthritis Index; HEx, hand exercise; JP, joint protection; OA, Osteoarthritis.