The Current Status of Non-surgical Treatment for Knee Osteoarthritis Patients in the Community: a Multi-center Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common clinical condition with a decades-long course. Long-term and personalised health management in community hospitals is the best way to prevent and treat KOA, and non-surgical treatment is an effective way to slow joint degeneration and postpone joint replacement surgery. Objective To understand the population characteristics, clinical staging and treatment modality characteristics of the population attending community hospitals for knee osteoarthritis, in order to provide a basis for optimising the treatment protocol for knee osteoarthritis at the grassroots level. Method All streets in the urban area of Beijing were randomly selected for the study using the whole cluster sampling method, and Hepingli Street in Dongcheng District, Beijing was censored for all patients who attended all community hospitals (7) belonging to the street from January to June 2022, and general information, medical history, personal history, clinical staging, K-L grading and treatment modalities were collected. Results A total of 3 615 KOA patients were included in this study, including 1 327 males (36.71%) and 2 288 females (63.29%), aged (71.8±13.3) years. There were 867 cases (23.98%) in the onset period, 2009 cases (55.57%) in the remission period and 739 cases (20.45%) in the rehabilitation period. Gender and age of patients with different clinical stages were not correlated with clinical stages (P>0.05), while BMI (K=0.235) and KL grading (K=0.406) were correlated with clinical stages (P<0.001). During the attack period, 4-5 kinds of treatment methods (48.67%) were combined, and the treatment methods were mainly traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations for external use 598 cases (68.97%), 475 cases (54.79%) of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations for oral use, and 396 cases (45. 67%) of health education; in the remission stage, 2-3 treatment methods were used in combination (48.58%), mainly including 1 084 cases (53.96%) of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations for external use, 1 047 cases (52.12%) of health education and 790 cases (39.32%) of cupping; in the rehabilitation stage, 2-3 kinds of treatment methods were used in combination (47.23%). The main treatment methods were health education in 488 cases (66.04%), traditional exercises in 286 cases (38.70%), and external use of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations in 279 cases (37.75%). There was a correlation between clinical stage and type of combination therapy (K=0.356, P<0.05) . Conclusion KOA patients in community hospitals are mainly in remission, and treatment is often combined with various methods of traditional Chinese patent medicine and simple preparations, and traditional exercises are also widely used.

Keywords

• osteoarthritis, knee|clinical stage|drug therapy|chinese patent medicines