Atencion primaria
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Both the initial evaluation and follow-up of patients with osteoarthritis require systematic evaluation of the indicators that provide information on the degree of involvement of the disease and allow its quantification. Reliable measures of disease progression help decision-making by clinicians and provide valid information on treatment response and the effectiveness of the distinct therapeutic interventions. The instruments recommended in research, as outcome measures in osteoarthritis, are pain evaluation, assessment of physical function, and self-reported global evaluation. ⋯ The recommended pain evaluation method for use in clinical practice is the visual analog scale (VAS). The best instrument to evaluate physical function in patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis is the WOMAC scale (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index). For patient-reported global assessment in routine practice, the recommended scales are VAS or the SF-12 (12-item short-form health survey).
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Synovial fluid analysis in rheumatological diseases allows a more accurate diagnosis in some entities, mainly infectious and microcrystalline arthritis. Examination of synovial fluid in patients with osteoarthritis is useful if a differential diagnosis will be performed with other processes and to distinguish between inflammatory and non-inflammatory forms. Joint aspiration is a diagnostic and sometimes therapeutic procedure that is available to primary care physicians.
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Osteoarthritis is defined as a degenerative process affecting the joints as a result of mechanical and biological disorders that destabilize the balance between the synthesis and degradation of joint cartilage, stimulating the growth of subchondral bone; chronic synovitis is also present. Currently, the joint is considered as a functional unit that includes distinct tissues, mainly cartilage, the synovial membrane, and subchondral bone, all of which are involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Distinct risk factors for the development of osteoarthritis have been described: general, unmodifiable risk factors (age, sex, and genetic makeup), general, modifiable risk factors (obesity and hormonal factors) and local risk factors (prior joint anomalies and joint overload). ⋯ The prevalence of knee osteoarthritis is 10.2% in Spain and shows a marked discrepancy between clinical and radiological findings. Hand osteoarthritis, with a prevalence of symptomatic involvement of around 6.2%, has several forms of presentation (nodal osteoarthritis, generalized osteoarthritis, rhizarthrosis, and erosive osteoarthritis). Symptomatic osteoarthritis of the hip affects between 3.5% and 5.6% of persons older than 50 years and has different radiological patterns depending on femoral head migration.
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Family physicians play a key role in the diagnosis and management of patients with osteoarthritis. Diagnosis is mainly clinical and radiological. ⋯ Pain characteristics should be identified, distinguishing between mechanical and inflammatory pain, and an exhaustive examination of the joints should be performed, with evaluation of the presence of pain, deformity, mobility restrictions (both active and passive), crepitus, joint effusion, and inflammation. A differential diagnosis should be made with all diseases that affect the joints and/or produce joint stiffness.