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Osteoarthritis
Viewpoint
Translation of clinical problems in osteoarthritis into pathophysiological research goals
  1. Peter M van der Kraan1,
  2. Francis Berenbaum2,
  3. Francisco J Blanco3,
  4. de Bari Cosimo4,
  5. Floris Lafeber5,
  6. Ellen Hauge6,
  7. Adele Higginbottom7,
  8. Andreea Ioan-Facsinay8,
  9. John Loughlin9,
  10. Ingrid Meulenbelt10,
  11. Eeva Moilanen11,
  12. Irene Pitsillidou12,
  13. Aspasia Tsezou13,
  14. Joyce van Meurs14,
  15. Tonia Vincent15,
  16. Ruth Wittoek16,
  17. Rik Lories17,
  18. On behalf of the EULAR Study group in OA (http://www.eular.org/investigative_rheumatology_study_groups.cfm)
  1. 1Department of Experimental Rheumatology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  2. 2Faculty of Medicine Pierre and Marie Curie Paris VI, INSERM UMR-S938, Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France
  3. 3Rheumatology Division, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de A Coruña (INIBIC), Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), Sergas, Universidade da Coruña (UDC), A Coruña, España
  4. 4Musculoskeletal Research Programme, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, UK
  5. 5Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
  6. 6Department of Clinical Medicine, The Section for Rheumatology, Aarhus, Denmark
  7. 7EULAR PARE Patient Research Partner and Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK
  8. 8Department of Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
  9. 9Musculoskeletal Research Group, Newcastle University, Institute of Cellular Medicine, The Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
  10. 10Department of Molecular Epidemiology, LUMC, Leiden, The Netherlands
  11. 11The Immunopharmacology Research Group, University of Tampere School of Medicine and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
  12. 12EULAR PARE Patient Research Partner, Nicosia, Cyprus
  13. 13Department of Biology, University of Thessaly, School of Medicine, Larissa, Greece
  14. 14Genetic Laboratory, Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  15. 15ARUK Centre for OA Pathogenesis, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  16. 16Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
  17. 17Laboratory of Tissue Homeostasis and Disease, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven and Division of Rheumatology, Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Center, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  1. Correspondence to Dr Peter M van der Kraan; peter.vanderkraan{at}radboudumc.nl

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) accounts for more disability among the elderly than any other disease and is associated with an increased mortality rate. The prevalence in Europe will rise in the future since this continent has a strongly ageing population and an obesity epidemic; obesity and age both being major risk factors for OA. No adequate therapeutic options, besides joint replacement, are available, although they are greatly needed and should be acquired by adequate research investments. However, the perspective on OA from a researcher's point of view is not always aligned with the perspective of a patient with OA. Researchers base their views on OA mainly on abnormalities in structure and function while patients consider OA as a collection of symptoms. In this viewpoint paper, we discuss the possibility of translating the most important clinical problems into pathophysiological research goals to facilitate the translation from bench to bedside and vice versa. This viewpoint is the outcome of a dialogue within the ‘European League Against Rheumatism study group on OA’ and People with Arthritis/Rheumatism across Europe (PARE) representatives.

  • Osteoarthritis
  • Patient perspective
  • Synovitis
  • Qualitative research

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2015-000224

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