Outcomes After First-line Treatment of Hand Osteoarthritis

Changes in Patient-reported Outcomes After a 3-month First-line Treatment Program in Men and Women With Hand Osteoarthritis

This study will investigate outcomes of a 3-month first-line treatment program for hand osteoarthritis, using data from the Swedish Osteoarthritis Registry.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hand Osteoarthritis
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: 3 months of exercise and education

Detailed Description

According to international guidelines, exercise, education and splinting (if needed) should constitute first-line treatment for people with hand osteoarthritis (OA). However, few studies have investigated the outcomes of such treatment in individuals with hand OA. In this retrospective register-based study we will investigate the outcomes of 3-months participation of first-line treatment for hand OA using data from the Swedish Osteoarthritis register (SOAR). Outcomes will be self-reported change in pain, pain frequency, health-related quality of life, physical activity, fear of movement and willingness for joint surgery between baseline and three months follow-up. In addition, we will investigate if potential improvements remain at 12 months.

Statistical analysis Changes in continuous variables between baseline and the two follow-ups (3 and 12 months) will be analyzed using paired T-test. Changes in proportions in the categorical variables will be analyzed using McNemars test for pairwise comparisons. Standardized effect sizes will be reported as Cohen's d with the following cut offs: 0.2=small, 0.5=medium and 0.8=large effect size. All outcomes will be analyzed separately for females and males.

In this study we will include all participants registered in SOAR fulfilling the eligibility criteria outlined below (n>1000) and consequently no power calculation was performed.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 2000

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with hand osteoarthritis registered in the Swedish Osteoarthritis register. The Swedish Osteoarthritis register is a national quality register evaluating the effect of first-line treatment on osteoarthritis-related outcomes.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 1) a clinical diagnosis of hand OA, 2) Participated for three months in the program 3) reported any of the included outcomes at both baseline and at 3 months follow-up.

Exclusion Criteria: None

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Hand osteoarthritis; Patients with a clinical diagnosis of hand osteoarthritis participating in a first-line treatment program	Other: 3 months of exercise and education

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
NRS pain	The NRS comprises an 11-point scale where 0 indicates no pain and 10 indicates the worst possible pain.	From enrollment to 3 and 12 months follow-up, respectively
Health-related quality of life	Assessed with the EuroQol - 5 dimension descriptive system (EQ-5D-3L)	From enrollment to 3 and 12 months, respectively

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pain frequency	dichotomous, frequent/rare	From enrollment to 3 and 12 months follow-up, respectively
Physical activity	Assessed with the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare indicators	From enrollment to 3 and 12 months follow-up, respectively
Fear of movement	Dichotomous reply, yes/no	from enrollment to 3 and 12 months follow-up, respectively
Willingness for surgery	Dichotomous reply, yes/no	From enrollment to 3 and 12 months follow-up, respectively

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Lund University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anna Cronström, PhD, Lund University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 31, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 13, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 13, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): July 16, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 16, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 13, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Osteoarthritis; exercise; Physical therapy; education; hand; First-line treatment
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Musculoskeletal Diseases; Arthritis; Joint Diseases; Rheumatic Diseases; Behavior; Osteoarthritis; Motor Activity; Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena; Socioeconomic Factors; Population Characteristics; Exercise; Educational Status
• Other Study ID Numbers: Dnr: 2022-06657-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified IPD for primary and secondary outcomes will be made available upon reasonable request.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: The data used in this study contains sensitive information about the study participants and they did not provide consent for public data sharing. The current approval by the Regional Ethical Review Board, Sweden does not include data sharing. A minimal data set could be shared by request from a qualified academic investigator for the sole purpose of replicating the present study, provided the data transfer is in agreement with EU legislation on the general data protection regulation and approval by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No