Women, overweight patients with osteoarthritis most likely to report poor pain relief
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Among patients with osteoarthritis, women and individuals who are overweight or obese are most likely to report inadequate pain control, according to a speaker at the 2022 OARSI World Congress.
“Pain is a major driver for health care services use [in Portugal],” Daniela Costa, MSc, of the NOVA National School of Public Health, at the NOVA University of Lisbon, in Portugal, said in her presentation. She noted that OA pain has caused significant loss of work productivity and early retirement in the country. “It also predicts total joint replacement.”
In addition, Portugal has a high rate of joint replacement surgery.
“There are few data regarding pain control in Portugal,” she said. “We need to evaluate pain control in people with osteoarthritis to identify areas for improvement.”
The current analysis included 1,087 participants with hip or knee OA. The researchers aimed to identify drivers of inadequate pain relief, such as socioeconomic, demographic or treatment-related factors.
Results showed that 68.8% of patients reported inadequate pain control, compared with 31.2% who had adequate relief.
Additionally, the multivariable analysis suggested that women (P < .001) and patients who were overweight (P = .035) or obese (P = .006) were most likely to report poor pain control. Multimorbidity (P = .001) also predicted poor pain control, according to Costa.
Lack of adequate pain relief was also observed in individuals with fewer than 4 years of education, smokers and those who reported frequent alcohol intake.
The impacts of pain extended beyond clinical parameters, according to Costa.
“Patients with inadequate pain relief had low performance on activity daily living and a low quality of life,” she said.
Regarding the limitations of the findings, Costa noted the cross-sectional nature of the study.
“We cannot make a cause-effect relationship,” she said.
Another limit was that medication use was self-reported. In addition, patients often failed to differentiate between regular pain medication use and the treatment of flares.
Regardless, Costa concluded that when two-thirds of a patient population report inadequate pain control, there is a problem.
“This can be explained by poor pain management strategies,” she said. “It can also be explained by low adherence to pain medications.”
Lifestyle interventions may be necessary to improve rates of pain control in Portuguese OA populations, Costa added.
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Costa D. Prevalence and factors associated with inadequate pain relief in people with hip or knee osteoarthritis: A cross-sectional population-based study. Presented at: OARSI 2022 World Congress on Osteoarthritis; April 7-10; Berlin, Germany (virtual meeting).
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