Article

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the short- and long-term effectiveness of exercise
training in relation to pain, function and direct costs to health care systems
attributable to hip osteoarthritis. DESIGN: Prospective, two-year randomized
controlled trial. SETTING:
An outpatient primary health care setting. SUBJECTS:
One hundred and twenty men and women aged from 55 to 80, with radiologically
diagnosed hip osteoarthritis with associated clinical symptoms. INTERVENTIONS:
The combined exercise and general practitioner (GP) care group received 12
supervised (once per week) exercise sessions at the baseline and four additional
booster sessions one year later. Both groups received standard GP care. MAIN
MEASURES: The WOMAC Osteoarthritis Index, physical functioning score of RAND-36
(SF-36), the use and health care system costs of doctor visits and physiotherapy
associated with hip osteoarthritis, number of total hip replacements, the use of
analgesic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), performance-based
outcome scores and body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: There were no differences
between the groups with respect to WOMAC hip pain, physical functioning score of
RAND-36, performance-based outcome scores or BMI.
The effect of the exercise
intervention on WOMAC function was statistically significant at 6 months (mean =
-7.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) -13.9 to -1.0; P = 0.02) and 18 months (mean =
-7.9; 95% CI -15.3 to -0.4; P = 0.04). There were no statistically significant
differences in the total health care system costs between the groups. CONCLUSION:
The mostly home-based exercise training programme provided in this study did not
result in reduced hip pain over the two-year follow-up period.

Langue : ANGLAIS