After Patients Are Diagnosed With Knee Osteoarthritis, What Do They Do? KELLY A. GRINDROD, 1 CARLO A. MARRA, 2 LINDSEY COLLEY, 1 JOLANDA CIBERE, 2 ROSS T. TSUYUKI, 3 JOHN M. ESDAILE, 2 LOUISE GASTONGUAY, 1 AND JACEK KOPEC 2 Objective. To learn more about the health services and products that patients use after receiving a diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis (OA), as well as the trajectory of their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Methods. Using a simple screening survey, community pharmacists identified 194 participants with previously undiag- nosed knee OA. Of these participants, 190 were confirmed to have OA on further investigation. At baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months after diagnosis, a survey was administered to assess health services, product use, and HRQOL, including the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey, the Paper Adaptive Test (PAT-5D-QOL), and the Health Utilities Index Mark 3. Results. With a mean age of 63 years, participants were mostly women, white, and overweight. By 6 months, more than 90% of the participants had visited their family physician to discuss their OA, and more than 50% of participants took either prescription or nonprescription analgesics. In addition, three-quarters of the participants started exercising, one-third initiated activity aids, and one-third had started natural medicine products. At 6 months compared with baseline, significant improvements were seen in the SF-36 physical component summary (P  0.001) and bodily pain domain scores (P  0.02), the PAT-5D-QOL overall, pain, and usual daily activities scores (P < 0.001 for all), and the WOMAC total, pain, and function scores (P < 0.001 for all). Conclusion. Within 6 months of receiving a diagnosis of knee OA, participants made several lifestyle interventions, often without the advice of a health professional, and saw improvements in their pain and function. INTRODUCTION Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and contributes to half of all disability among older per- sons in North America (1). Guidelines for the management of OA recommend that treatments be tailored to patient needs and include nonpharmacologic therapies such as education, exercise, appliances, and weight reduction in addition to the use of analgesic medications (2,3). Unfor- tunately at present, many patients with OA do not receive the care needed to improve symptoms or slow disease progression (4,5). In today’s health care system, chronic disease manage- ment in the primary care setting has become a focus of many advocates and critics alike. In the case of arthritis, the burden of the disease on health care systems and on the patients’ quality of life underscores the need for pro- grams that effectively deliver ongoing care. In most devel- Presented in part at the 71st Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, Boston, MA, No- vember 2007, and the Canadian Pharmacists Association Annual General Meeting, Victoria, British Columbia, Can- ada, June 2008. Supported in part by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team (Tooling Up for Early Osteoarthri- tis: Measuring What Matters) and a grant from Merck Frosst Canada. Dr. Grindrod’s work was supported by a postdoc- toral fellowship trainee award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Dr. Marra’s work was supported by a Government of Canada Research Chair in Pharmaceutical Outcomes and a Scholar Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Dr. Cibere’s work was supported by a J. W. McConnell Family Foundation Scholar award and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Clini- cal Scientist award. Dr. Tsuyuki’s work was supported by the Merck Frosst Chair in Patient Health Management. 1 Kelly A. Grindrod, BSc (Pharm), PharmD, MSc, Lindsey Colley, MSc, Louise Gastonguay, BSN, MSN: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; 2 Carlo A. Marra, PharmD, PhD, Jolanda Cibere, MD, PhD, John M. Esdaile, MD, MPH, Jacek Kopec, MD, PhD: Univer- sity of British Columbia and Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; 3 Ross T. Tsuyuki, PharmD, MSc: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Address correspondence to Carlo A. Marra, PharmD, PhD, Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, University of British Columbia, 2146 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada. E-mail: carlo.marra@ ubc.ca. Submitted for publication May 14, 2009; accepted in re- vised form November 30, 2009. Arthritis Care & Research Vol. 62, No. 4, April 2010, pp 510 –515 DOI 10.1002/acr.20170 © 2010, American College of Rheumatology ORIGINAL ARTICLE 510