Osteoarthrosis in outpatient practice

Abstract

Objective: to elucidate the awareness of osteoarthrosis - OA (the most common location and treatment methods) among primary care physicians. Subjects and methods. The questionnaire developed at the Research Institute of Rheumatology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, was used to interview 1912 specialists (therapists, rheumatologists, neurologists, and surgeons) who made a primary outpatient reception in the local polyclinics of 25 Russian Federation’s cities with a population of more than 500,000. Results. In the opinion of the physicians of all specialties, knee joints turned out to be the most location of OA. In practice, the rheumatologists encountered knee, hip, and hand joint lesions in OA in 92, 42, and 38%, respectively. Analysis of therapeutic preferences has shown that virtually all the physicians prescribe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and only two thirds do structure-modifying drugs (chondroprotectors) for OA patients. When treating OA, only the rheumatologists use slow-acting drugs in practically 100% of cases, by preferring chondroitin sulfate. The physicians of all specialties use topical glucocorticoid therapy extensively. The rheumatologists use this therapy most probably due to the fact that patients with severe polyarticular OA come to see them. Notwithstanding the fact that new guidelines for the treatment of OA were published in 2008, most physicians are oriented to the 1995 guidelines, frequently giving rise to therapeutic errors and wrong treatment.

Keywords

• osteoarthrosis
• primary care physicians