Etude 3000 ARTHROSES Symptomatic Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis Prevalence Survey. Programme de Recherche du Groupe Qualité de Vie, de la Section Epidémiologie et de la Section Arthrose de la Société Française de Rhumatologie

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease progressively affecting joint cartilage and subchondral bone, leading to pain, limited range of motion and functional impairment. Knee and hip are the more frequently affected joints. There is no treatment able to cure OA or at least to slow down cartilage damage. Thus, when symptomatic treatments become ineffective, joint prosthetic replacement is the unique solution.

There is a substantial lack of information about osteoarthritis (OA) epidemiology in France, as well as in other European countries, which becomes more and more critical with population aging. The need for additional knowledge was outlined in the law about public health priorities in France, published on August 9th, 2004. In this document, a specific call is made for additional investigation on functional limitations, disability and quality of life modification of people affected by OA.

Up to now, available information is mainly limited to short- or medium-term studies, conducted in clinic-based samples. Thus, based on demography and public health conclusions, implementing population-based epidemiologic studies is required in order to improve scientific knowledge with regards to :

• prevalence of symptomatic OA,
• its natural history over years and potential prognostic factors influencing the disease,
• its impact in terms of quality of life changes, disability, lack of autonomy and health resource use.

Our expert group, which has a substantial experience in osteoarthritis, epidemiology and health service research, has developed a 2-part research program aiming to help answering to OA-related public health questions: