Hand strenght and dexterity in interphalangeal hand osteoarthritis and effects of osteophyte formations

Subluxation of the first carpometacarpal joint and age are important factors in reduced hand strength in patients with hand osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the determinants of hand strength in patients with hand osteoarthritis (OA).

METHOD

Pinch and cylinder grip strength were measured in 527 patients with hand OA diagnosed by their treating rheumatologist from the Hand OSTeoArthritis in Secondary care (HOSTAS) study. Radiographs of hands (22 joints) were scored 0-3 (scaphotrapeziotrapezoid and first interphalangeal joints 0-1) on osteophytes and joint space narrowing following the Osteoarthritis Research Society International atlas. The first carpometacarpal joint (CMC1) was scored 0-1 for subluxation. Pain was assessed with the Australian/Canadian Hand Osteoarthritis Index pain subscale, and health-related quality of life with the Short Form-36. Regression analysis served to investigate associations of hand strength with patient, disease, and radiographic features.

RESULTS

Hand strength was negatively associated with female sex, age, and pain. Reduced hand strength was associated with reduced quality of life, although less after adjusting for pain. Radiographic features of hand OA were associated with reduced grip strength when solely adjusted for sex and body mass index, but only CMC1 subluxation in the dominant hand remained significantly associated with pinch grip adjusted additionally for age (-0.511 kg, 95% confidence interval -0.975; -0.046). Mediation analysis showed low and not significant percentages of mediation of hand OA in the association between age and grip strength.

CONCLUSIONS

Subluxation of CMC1 is associated with reduced grip strength, whereas associations with other radiographic features seem to be confounded by age. In the relationship between age and hand strength, radiographic hand OA severity is not an important mediator.

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of "Trapeziometacarpal Arthrosis Symptoms and Disability-TASD" into Brazilian Portuguese

BACKGROUND

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of hand arthritis and arthritis of the carpometacarpal joint of the thumb is a potentially limiting disease. There is no homogeneity in the evaluation of outcomes for the rhizarthrosis treatment. In an attempt to standardize the evaluation of results, some subjective questionnaires, non-specific, were used to evaluate rhizarthrosis. Trapeziometacarpal Arthrosis Symptoms and Disability (TASD) was described by Becker et al.with the purpose of evaluating symptom intensity and degree of disability, as to compare results after treatment. Our objective is to translate, validate and do the cultural adaptation of the questionnaire TASD into the Brazilian Portuguese.

METHODS

The questionnaire was translated, with reverse translation. The translations were evaluated and synthesized by a committee, arriving at TASD-BR. Thirty-one patients with a diagnosis of rhizarthrosis answered the questionnaire. We evaluated, the internal consistency, reliability, agreement and ceiling and floor effect for validation.

RESULTS

The questionnaires were translated and adapted according to defined protocols. The internal consistency, through Cronbach's α coefficient for TASD-BR, was 0.927. The questionnaire's reliability, through the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, was also shown to be quite high, with κ = 0.961 (0.954-0.967). The agreement, measured through the Standard Error Measurement, remained with standardized values below 5%. There was no ceiling and floor effect.

CONCLUSION

Through specific methodology we consider TASD-BR translated and valid for the Brazilian Portuguese.