Osteoarthritis subpopulations and implications for clinical trial design
1 Department of General Practice, University Medical Centre Erasmus MC, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2 Department of Orthopedics, University Medical Centre Erasmus MC, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
3 Avans University of Applied Sciences, School of Health, 4800 RA Breda, The Netherlands
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2011, 13:213 doi:10.1186/ar3299
Published: 5 April 2011Abstract
Treatment guidelines for osteoarthritis have stressed the need for research on clinical predictors of response to different treatments. However, identifying such clinical predictors of response is less easy than it seems, and there is not a given classification of osteoarthritis subpopulations. This review article highlights the key methodical issues when analyzing and designing clinical studies to detect important subgroups with respect to treatment effect. In addition, we discuss the main osteoarthritis subpopulations and give examples of how specific treatment effects in these subpopulations have been assessed.
