title: Inadequate pain relief among patients with primary knee osteoarthritis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the widespread treatments for Osteoarthritis (OA), data on treatment patterns, adequacy of pain relief, and quality of life are limited. The prospective multinational Survey of Osteoarthritis Real World Therapies (SORT) was designed to investigate these aspects.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the characteristics and the patient reported outcomes of the Portuguese dataset of SORT at the start of observation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients ≥ 50 years with primary knee OA who were receiving oral or topical analgesics were eligible. Patients were enrolled from seven healthcare centers in Portugal between January and December 2011. Pain and function were evaluated using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and WOMAC. Quality of life was assessed using the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12). Inadequate Pain Relief (IPR) was defined as a score>4/10 on item 5 of the BPI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 197 patients were analyzed. The median age was 67.0 years and 78.2% were female. Mean duration of knee OA was 6.2 years. IPR was reported by 51.3% of patients. Female gender (adjusted odds ratio - OR 2.15 [95%CI 1.1, 4.5]), diabetes (OR 3.1 [95%CI 1.3, 7.7]) and depression (OR 2.24 [95%CI 1.2, 4.3]) were associated with higher risk of IPR. Patients with IPR reported worst outcomes in all dimensions of WOMAC (p<0.001) and in all eight domains and summary components of SF-12 (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that improvements are needed in the management of pain in knee OA in order to achieve better outcomes in terms of pain relief, function and quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Oeiras, Portugal. Electronic address: pedro.laires@merck.com.
authors.forename: Pedro A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Laires
authors.affiliation: Centro de Medicina de Reabilitação da Região Centro, Tocha, Portugal.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laíns
authors.affiliation: Instituto Português de Reumatologia, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Luís C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.affiliation: Administração de Saúde da Região Norte (ARS Norte), Porto, Portugal; Centro de Saúde da Aguda, Arcozelo, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cernadas
authors.affiliation: Med Data Analytics, Inc., East Brunswick, Estados Unidos.
authors.forename: Srini
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajagopalan
authors.affiliation: Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, Estados Unidos.
authors.forename: Stephanie D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal.
authors.forename: José C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Silva
keywords: Alívio inadequado da dor; Desfechos relatados pelo paciente; Disability; Inadequate pain relief; Incapacidade; Knee osteoarthritis; Osteoartrite de joelho; Patient reported outcomes; Qualidade de vida; Quality of life