thesis
Hand osteoarthritisEpidemiology and clinical consequences
- Publication date
- 10 November 2005
- Publisher
- Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent cause of rheumatic complaints. OA is a group
of distinct overlapping diseases, which may have different aetiologies (causes), but
have similar biologic, morphologic (form), and clinical outcomes. OA can arise in
any synovial joint in the body, but most often in the hands, feet, spine, knees, and
hip joints. Because arthritis and rheumatic diseases receive far less attention in the
scientifi c literature than is warranted by their enormous and growing disease burden,
this study aims to contribute to the understanding of OA, especially a frequently
occurring form of OA, hand OA, and its clinical consequences for the patients.
Except for one review, all other studies presented in this thesis were based on
data from the Rotterdam study, a large cohort from the open population of persons
aged 55 years and older in the Netherlands. Baseline measurements were conducted
between 1990 and 1993 on a total of 7983 participants (response rate of 78%). Hand
radiographs were made at baseline for each participant, but for feasibility reasons
only 3906 radiographs were scored of which the data were used in the following
studies.