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Socioeconomic status of patients in a Swedish national self-management program for osteoarthritis compared with the general population - A descriptive observational study

Gustafsson, Kristin ; Kvist, Joanna ; Eriksson, Marit ; Dahlberg, Leif E. LU and Rolfson, Ola (2020) In BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 21(1).
Abstract

Background: First-line treatment for hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) including education and supervised exercises, delivered as a self-management program, is considered one of the mainstays in OA treatment. However, the socioeconomic profile of the population that utilizes first-line treatment for hip and knee OA is unclear. The aim of this study was to describe the socioeconomic status (SES) of a population referred to a self-management program for OA, in comparison with that of the general Swedish population. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including 72,069 patients with hip or knee OA enrolled in the National Quality Register for Better management of patients with Osteoarthritis (BOA) between 2008 and 2016, and registered... (More)

Background: First-line treatment for hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) including education and supervised exercises, delivered as a self-management program, is considered one of the mainstays in OA treatment. However, the socioeconomic profile of the population that utilizes first-line treatment for hip and knee OA is unclear. The aim of this study was to describe the socioeconomic status (SES) of a population referred to a self-management program for OA, in comparison with that of the general Swedish population. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including 72,069 patients with hip or knee OA enrolled in the National Quality Register for Better management of patients with Osteoarthritis (BOA) between 2008 and 2016, and registered before participation in a structured OA self-management program. A reference cohort (n = 216,207) was selected from the general Swedish population by one-to-three matching by year of birth, sex and residence. Residential municipality, country of birth, marital status, family type, educational level, employment, occupation, disposable income and sick leave were analyzed. Results: The BOA population had higher educational level than the reference group, both regarding patients with hip OA (77.5% vs 70% with ≥10 years of education), and with knee OA (77% vs 72% with ≥10 years of education). Their average disposable income was higher (median [IQR] in Euro (€), for hip €17,442 [10,478] vs €15,998 [10,659], for knee €17,794 [10,574] vs €16,578 [11,221]). Of those who worked, 46% of patients with hip OA and 45% of the reference group had a blue-collar occupation. The corresponding numbers for knee OA were 51 and 44% respectively. Sick leave was higher among those with hip and knee OA (26%) than those in the reference groups (13% vs 12%). Conclusions: The consistently higher SES in the BOA population compared with the general population indicates that this self-management program for OA may not reach the more socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, who are often those with a higher disease burden.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Hip, Knee, Osteoarthritis, Registries, Self-management, Socioeconomic status
in
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
volume
21
issue
1
article number
10
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:31906904
  • scopus:85077635639
ISSN
1471-2474
DOI
10.1186/s12891-019-3016-z
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3d61124f-c805-4aa1-b8ff-91fcc41d4f97
date added to LUP
2020-01-28 08:37:01
date last changed
2024-04-17 03:13:57
@article{3d61124f-c805-4aa1-b8ff-91fcc41d4f97,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: First-line treatment for hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) including education and supervised exercises, delivered as a self-management program, is considered one of the mainstays in OA treatment. However, the socioeconomic profile of the population that utilizes first-line treatment for hip and knee OA is unclear. The aim of this study was to describe the socioeconomic status (SES) of a population referred to a self-management program for OA, in comparison with that of the general Swedish population. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including 72,069 patients with hip or knee OA enrolled in the National Quality Register for Better management of patients with Osteoarthritis (BOA) between 2008 and 2016, and registered before participation in a structured OA self-management program. A reference cohort (n = 216,207) was selected from the general Swedish population by one-to-three matching by year of birth, sex and residence. Residential municipality, country of birth, marital status, family type, educational level, employment, occupation, disposable income and sick leave were analyzed. Results: The BOA population had higher educational level than the reference group, both regarding patients with hip OA (77.5% vs 70% with ≥10 years of education), and with knee OA (77% vs 72% with ≥10 years of education). Their average disposable income was higher (median [IQR] in Euro (€), for hip €17,442 [10,478] vs €15,998 [10,659], for knee €17,794 [10,574] vs €16,578 [11,221]). Of those who worked, 46% of patients with hip OA and 45% of the reference group had a blue-collar occupation. The corresponding numbers for knee OA were 51 and 44% respectively. Sick leave was higher among those with hip and knee OA (26%) than those in the reference groups (13% vs 12%). Conclusions: The consistently higher SES in the BOA population compared with the general population indicates that this self-management program for OA may not reach the more socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, who are often those with a higher disease burden.</p>}},
  author       = {{Gustafsson, Kristin and Kvist, Joanna and Eriksson, Marit and Dahlberg, Leif E. and Rolfson, Ola}},
  issn         = {{1471-2474}},
  keywords     = {{Hip; Knee; Osteoarthritis; Registries; Self-management; Socioeconomic status}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders}},
  title        = {{Socioeconomic status of patients in a Swedish national self-management program for osteoarthritis compared with the general population - A descriptive observational study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12891-019-3016-z}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12891-019-3016-z}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}