title: Physician awareness of knee and hip pain in the context of coronary heart disease treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The benefit of physical activity for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been well documented. The aim of the present study was to determine the level of awareness among general practitioners (GPs) of knee and hip problems in patients with CVD or CVD risk.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional questionnaire survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-five Austrian GPs and 1,118 patients were included. The GPs completed an extraction form about the presence or absence of documented evidence of problems related to the knee and/or hip joint within the patient medical data. Patients, in turn, were asked to complete a questionnaire that included the Oxford Knee/Hip Score and the cardiovascular risk-chart established by the European Society of Cardiology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 748 patients' data from medical records and questionnaires were available. 40.9% of these patients suffered from serious knee pain and 32.1% from hip pain. However, in the medical records, in only 51.3% (knee) and 48.1% (hip) of these pain-patients the problems were documented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Joint disorders of the knee and hip problems are considerable barriers to effective physical activity and can therefore contribute to the development of CVD. Our data showed that GP awareness of such knee/hip disorders should be improved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3633-3240
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glehr
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5621-3361
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaltenbach
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Glehr
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sadoghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2598-2325
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leithner
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Szkandera
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice and Health Services Research, Voßstraße 2, Geb. 37, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ludt
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 5, 8036 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vielgut
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice and Family Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15/1, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Reingard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Glehr
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wensing
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003327:Coronary Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006621:Hip Joint; D006801:Humans; D007717:Knee; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D010820:Physicians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires