The effects of a health education programme on patients' symptoms and lifestyle changes in patients with knee osteoarthritis attending a tertiary care clinic in sri lanka

Background Osteoarthritis is the major cause of joint pain and disability among middle aged and elderly with no disease specific treatment. Management includes analgesics, lifestyle changes and physical therapy. Objectives We aimed to study the demographics of the patients and knowledge regarding osteoarthritis among those who attended our clinic with mechanical knee pain and the effects of a health education programme. Methods Patients complaining of mechanical knee pain who were found to have examination findings suggestive of knee joint osteoarthritis were enrolled in this study (N-150). Where available diagnosis was confirmed by radiography. Data was collected when they attended a health education programme which focused on lifestyle changes in osteoarthritis including diet and exercise (n-76). An interviewer administered questionnaire regarding disease, dietary changes for reduction of weight and exercise was used to obtain data before and 3 months after the health education programme. Anthropometric measurements were taken using validated instruments. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Results Response rate was 50.67 %.The average age of the study population was 54.8 years and constituted of 92.1 % females. About one fifth of them had received only primary school and 50 percent were unemployed. The average BMI was 29.68 (SD-5) and average WOMAC score was 44.1 (SD -19.4). Their knowledge of healthy dietary habits, primarily to lose weight and exercises for knees were assessed before the health education programme and 3 months later. Table 1. Before health education 3 months after health education n 76 20 BMI (average) 29.68 30.2 Not aware of disease 90% 50% Aware of diet to reduce weight 32% 65% Aware of exercises 5 % 35% WOMAC score 44.1 36.7 There was no statistically significant correlation between WOMAC score and age, educational level or BMI.Though the knowledge regarding disease and lifestyle measures improved significantly(p< 0.05) following the health education program, there was no significant difference in the WOMAC score. Conclusion Health education was seen to improve the knowledge regarding disease and lifestyle measures despite no significant improvement in the pain or disability scores.Further studies are needed to see the long term effects of health education. References [1]Jönsson, T., Eek, F., Dell’Isola, A., Dahlberg, L. E., & Ekvall Hansson, E. (2019). The Better Management of Patients with Osteoarthritis Program: Outcomes after evidence-based education and exercise delivered nationwide in Sweden. PloS one , 14 (9), e0222657. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0222657 [2]Espanha M, Marconcin P, Campos P, et alPARE0005 Educational program for older adults with knee osteoarthritisAnnals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2017;76:1553. Disclosure of Interests None declared