Table 3

Comparison of patients with and without productivity loss due to hand OA

Patients with paid work (n=181)All patients (N=381)
Paid work productivity loss (n=36)No paid work productivity loss (n=145)Unpaid work productivity loss (n=171)No unpaid work productivity loss (n=210)
General patient characteristics
 Age (years)55 (6)56 (6)61 (8)61 (9)
 Sex (female), n (%)28 (78)122 (84)159 (93)161 (76)
 BMI (kg/m2)28.2 (7.5)27.3 (4.8)28.6 (5.6)26.9 (4.2)
 Living with a partner, n (%)28 (78)124 (76)144 (84)168 (80)
 Education, high,§ n (%)11 (31)46 (32)34 (19)67 (32)
Hand-specific characteristics
 Fulfilling ACR hand OA criteria, n (%)29 (81)124 (86)157 (92)187 (88)
 Erosive hand OA, n (%)8 (23)27 (19)43 (25)70 (33)
 Symptom duration (years)*4.3 (1.2–11.6)4.2 (1.6–8.2)6.1 (1.6–14.6)4.8 (2.1–10.4)
 AUSCAN hand pain (0–20)11 (4)8 (5)11 (4)8 (4)
 AUSCAN hand function (0–36)19 (8)13 (8)19 (8)13 (8)
 Tender joint count (0–30)*6 (2–9)2 (1–5)6 (2–9)3 (1–6)
 KL summated score (0–120)*13 (5–21)12 (5–21)13 (5–21)17 (8–9)
General burden
 Any comorbidity present, n (%)19 (53)69 (48)109 (64)100 (47)
 Amount of comorbidities*1 (0–1)1 (0–1)1 (0–2)0 (0–1)
 Fulfilling ACR hip OA criteria, n (%)5 (14)4 (3)14 (8)16 (8)
 Fulfilling ACR knee OA criteria, n (%)15 (42)38 (26)57 (34)70 (33)
 HADS total score (0–42)*7 (5–12)6 (3–11)7 (4–14)6 (3–10)
Work characteristics
 Retired, n (%)46 (28)70 (33)
 Full work disability, n (%)3 (8)2 (1)6 (3)3 (1)
  Full work disability due to hand OA, n (%)0 (0)0 (0)3 (2)3 (2)
 Partial work disability, n (%)3 (8)5 (3)6 (3)6 (3)
  Partial work disability due to hand OA, n (%)1 (3)3 (2)2 (1)4 (2)
 Unpaid work replacement, n (%)20 (56)53 (37)
 Paid work productivity loss, n (%)16 (9)20 (10)
 Predominantly manual profession†, n (%)1 (3)10 (7)7 (4)19 (9)
  • Numbers represent mean (standard deviation) unless otherwise specified.

  • *Median (IQR).

  • †Defined as a score of 5 or 6 on the scale by de Zwart et al.26

  • §Defined as having completed university level education

  • ACR, American College of Rheumatology; AUSCAN, Australian Canadian Osteoarthritis Hand Index; BMI, body mass index; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; KL, Kellgren-Lawrence; OA, osteoarthritis.