To explore and describe potential differences between women and men in functioning, health status and socio-economic variables in hand OA.
Unselected patients of an Austrian outpatient clinic meeting the ACR criteria for hand OA were consecutively included and assessed once. Descriptive statistics and subgroup analyses were performed for differences between women and men. By regression analysis, we explored whether the variables sex, practice of sports, manual activities, aesthetic changes and functioning in daily life predict the levels of pain and vitality.
223 (88.1%) women and 30 (11.9%) men were included in the study. Significant differences between women and men were found in involvement in housework, aesthetic changes and own net income. Sex did not contribute significantly to any of the regression models, while e.g. involvement in sports was a strong individual contributor to self-reported vitality - irrespective of sex. Total X-ray scores of both hands as well as the involvement of CMCI joints did not show significant differences.
Our study showed significant differences between women and men with hand OA in socio-economic variables and aesthetic changes. In contrast to our expectations, no other differences between women and men were found in functioning and health status.