Marcia Uchoa de Rezende, Gustavo Constantino de Campos, Alexandre Felicio Pailo, Renato Frucchi, Thiago Pasqualin and Olavo Pires de Camargo
Objective: To evaluate the improvement in pain, function and quality of life of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) by means of an educational program.
Methods: Two hundred and five patients with knee OA were evenly allocated in four groups. Three groups had two days of lectures on Osteoarthritis (OA). All groups received printed material to read and a video with all the lectures. Groups 1, 2, and 3, had lectures one, two and three months apart respectively. Group 4 received the educational material only. Half of the patients (subgroups A) received a telephone call two months after the final lecture. At enrollment and four months after the final lecture or after receiving the educational material, patients were asked to answer LEQUESNE, WOMAC, VAS, and SF-36 questionnaires, both physical (PCS) and mental (MCS).
Results: Age wise all groups were similar. BMI was significantly higher in group 4. In general, all groups improved in pain, function and quality of life with no significant difference between groups for Lequesne, WOMAC, WOMAC pain, and SF36 PCS, or MCS. VAS showed significant difference favoring phone calls (p=0.021). Without telephone calls VAS scores trends (p=0.068) to be less in class attendants than in those that only retrieved the educational material.
Conclusions: The educational program improved pain, function and quality of life (both physical and mental). Telephone calls improved pain and classroom programs seem to be superior to educational material alone.