The High Clinical Burden of Erosive Hand Osteoarthritis is Associated with Clinical Findings, Pain, and Radiographic Severity

Varying reports exist on the clinical impact of erosive hand osteoarthritis (EHOA) in terms of pain and articular function. Few studies have assessed the association of a patient's clinical features with the presence of more severe radiographic disease. The aim was to evaluate clinical and radiographic characteristics in EHOA comparing with non-erosive (NEHOA); to examine pain and functional impairment between EHOA and NEHOA; and correlate functional impairment with clinical findings, pain, and radiographic severity. 62 patients with EHOA and 57 with NEHO were included. Pain was assessed through Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Australian/Canadian Osteoarthritis Hand Index (AUSCAN) pain subdomain. Functioning was evaluated with the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) concerning hand function and AUSCAN. Radiographs were scored with the Kallman scale and subchondral erosions with the Verbruggen–Veys method. Student t-tests were used for comparing quantitative data, chi-squared tests for categorical variables, and Pearson or Spearman tests for assessing correlation. Patients with EHOA reported significantly higher levels of pain on the VAS and AUSCAN (p