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Improving the health and well-being of people with osteoarthritis (OA) requires effective action beyond health service delivery. Integration of the different contexts and settings in which people live, work, and socialize, also known as the social determinants of health (SDH), with health care has the potential to provide additional benefits to health and well-being outcomes compared with traditional OA care. This article explores how SDH can impact the lives of people with OA, how SDH intersect at different stages of OA progression, and opportunities for integrating SDH factors to address the onset and management of OA across the life course.

This article provides an overview of osteoarthritis (OA) management recommendations and strategies to improve clinical practice concordance with clinical guidelines. In many countries, the primary point of care for a person with OA is typically general practitioners and physiotherapists. Optimal primary care focuses on core OA treatments, namely education for self-management and lifestyle interventions encompassing increased physical activity, therapeutic exercise, and weight loss (if indicated). Quality indicators are used in clinical practice and research to determine the quality of care and in some settings, are used as knowledge translation tools to address existing evidence-to-practice gaps.