Impact of clinical osteoarthritis of the hip, knee and hand on self-rated health in six European countries:the European Project on OSteoArthritis

PURPOSE: Osteoarthritis (OA) has been shown to be associated with decreased physical function, which may impact upon a person's self-rated health (SRH). Only a few studies have examined the association between OA and SRH in the general population, but to date none have used a clinical definition of OA. The objectives are: (1) To examine the cross-sectional association between clinical OA and fair-to-poor SRH in the general population; (2) To examine whether this association differs between countries; (3) To examine whether physical function is a mediator in the association between clinical OA... Mehr ...