Quality of Care for Knee Osteoarthritis in Primary Care: A Patient's Perspective

To describe the quality of osteoarthritis care in general practice from a patient's perspective and to identify novel associations between process quality indicators and patient-reported outcome and experience measures.

For this study, 235 individuals with knee osteoarthritis completed a survey based on both process and outcome indicators. Process indicators were extracted from international guidelines and included the domains: diagnosis, self-management, treatment, and follow-up. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and RAND 36-item Short Form health survey (SF-36) were used to assess patient-reported outcomes. Patient-reported experience with care was evaluated with the European Task Force on Patient Evaluations of General Practice Care (EUROPEP) instrument. A series of multilevel regression analyses were then performed to analyze determinants at the patient level (i.e., age, sex, body mass index, and education) and associations between process and outcome indicators.

Overall, low adherence to the process indicators was observed (38%), particularly on informing patients about the importance of weight loss (24% [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 19-31]) or referring them for physical therapy (41% [95% CI 33-49]). Patients described their quality of life as moderate, with an overall score of 63% and 35% on the SF-36 and WOMAC surveys, respectively. Regarding the determinants, patients with a higher education level were better informed (odds ratio [OR] 3.4; P = 0.0003). Associations between process and outcome indicators were scarce, with the exception of patient satisfaction with care and use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (OR 2.9; P = 0.0014).

Patients with knee osteoarthritis receive suboptimal conservative management. They report a moderate quality of life. This study confirms the evidence suggesting that NSAIDs are the backbone of osteoarthritis pain management but also adds evidence from a patient's perspective.