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Objective: To examine whether pain sensitization is associated with hand and lower extremity function in people with hand osteoarthritis (OA) in the Nor-Hand study., Design: Pain sensitization was assessed by pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) and temporal summation (TS). Hand function was assessed by Australian/Canadian Osteoarthritis Hand Index (AUSCAN) (range: 0-36), grip strength and Moberg pick-up test, and lower extremity function was assessed by Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (range: 0-68), 30-s chair stand test, and 40-m walk test. We examined whether sex-standardized PPT and TS values were cross-sectionally associated with measures of physical function using linear regression analyses. Beta coefficients were presented per sex-specific standard deviation of PPT and TS. The mediating effect of pain was examined by causal-inference based mediation analysis., Results: In 206 participants, higher PPTs at/near the hand, indicative of less peripheral and/or central pain sensitization, were associated with greater grip strength and better self-reported hand function (beta for PPT at finger joint on AUSCAN function: -1.41, 95% CI -2.40, -0.42). Higher PPTs at/near the hand, near the knee and at trapezius were associated with lower extremity function, although not statistically significant for all outcomes. Self-reported pain severity mediated the effect of PPT on self-reported function. TS was not associated with hand or lower extremity function., Conclusion: Peripheral sensitization, and possibly central sensitization, was associated with impaired function. Effects of PPTs on self-reported function were mediated by self-reported pain, whereas there might be a direct effect of sensitization or effects through other mediators on performance-based function., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest TN reports grants or contracts from Pfizer/Lilly (to institution) and consulting fees from Pfizer/Lilly, Regeneron and Novartis outside the submitted work. TKK reports grants or contracts from AbbVie, BMS, Pfizer, Novartis and UCB, consulting fees from AbbVie, Amgen, Celltrion, Biogen, Eli Lilly, Gilead, Mylan, Novartis, Celltrion, Pfizer, Sandoz and Sanofi, payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from Amgen, Celltrion, Egis, Evapharma, Ewopharma, Hikma, Oktal, Sandoz, Sanofi and Grünenthal and participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board for AbbVie outside the submitted work. IKH reports grants from Pfizer/Lilly (ADVANCE) related to the data collection of the Nor-Hand study, as well as honoraria for lectures from Novartis and GSK, and a leadership/fiduciary role in OARSI (unpaid) outside the submitted work. MG, PSP, JS and HBH have nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To examine associations of pain sensitisation with tender and painful joint counts and presence of widespread pain in people with hand osteoarthritis (OA)., Methods: Pressure pain thresholds (PPT) at a painful finger joint and the tibialis anterior muscle, and temporal summation (TS) were measured in 291 persons with hand OA. We examined whether sex-standardised PPT and TS values were associated with assessor-reported tender hand joint count, self-reported painful hand and total body joint counts and presence of widespread pain using linear and logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, education and OA severity., Results: People with lower PPTs at the painful finger joint (measure of peripheral and/or central sensitisation) had more tender and painful hand joints than people with higher PPTs. PPT at tibialis anterior (measure of central sensitisation) was associated with painful total body joint count (beta=-0.82, 95% CI -1.28 to -0.35) and presence of widespread pain (OR=0.57, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.77). The associations between TS (measure of central sensitisation) and joint counts in the hands and the total body were statistically non-significant., Conclusion: This cross-sectional study suggested that pain sensitisation (ie, lower PPTs) was associated with joint counts and widespread pain in hand OA. This knowledge may be used for improved pain phenotyping of people with hand OA, which may contribute to better pain management through more personalised medicine. Further studies are needed to assess whether a reduction of pain sensitisation leads to a decrease in tender and painful joint counts., Competing Interests: Competing interests: TKK reports grants and personal fees from AbbVie, grants from BMS, grants and personal fees from MSD, personal fees from Hospira/Pfizer, personal fees from Roche, grants and personal fees from UCB, personal fees from Eli-Lilly, personal fees from Hikma, personal fees from Orion, personal fees from Sanofi, personal fees from Celltrion, personal fees from Sandoz, personal fees from Biogen, personal fees from Amgen, personal fees from Egis, personal fees from Ewopharma, personal fees from Mylan, personal fees from Evapharma, outside the submitted work. HBH reports personal fees from AbbVie, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Lilly, outside the submitted work. IKH reports grants from Pfizer and personal fees from Novartis, outside the submitted work. MG, PSP, TN, BS-C and KM have nothing to disclose., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: To examine the validity of a modified Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain (ICOAP) questionnaire for assessment of pain in hand osteoarthritis (OA)., Methods: The modified ICOAP-hand questionnaire was administered to 300 patients [89% female, median (interquartile range) age: 61 (57-66) yrs] in the Nor-Hand observational cohort study. The questionnaire was completed twice by 31 patients and test-retest reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for sum scores and weighted κ scores for individual items. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and item-total correlations. Correlations between the ICOAP-hand questionnaire, the Australian/Canadian Hand OA Index (AUSCAN) hand pain subscale, and pain on a numerical rating scale (NRS) were analyzed using Spearman correlation analyses., Results: We found a substantial overlap between constant and intermittent pain (46% reporting constant + intermittent pain and 33% reporting no pain). Test-retest reliability analysis of ICOAP-hand showed an ICC of 0.89 for the total scale and weighted κ values between 0.39-0.70 for the individual items. Principal component analysis revealed one component with an eigenvalue of 7.9, explaining 72% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient values > 0.93 and strong item-total correlations proved high internal consistency. ICOAP-hand was strongly correlated with NRS hand pain and the AUSCAN pain subscale., Conclusion: ICOAP-hand is a reliable pain index that correlates with other available pain questionnaires. However, our results indicate that constant and intermittent pain do not represent separate constructs in hand OA, questioning the usefulness of the 2 subscales. [ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03083548].

Introduction: We have limited knowledge about the underlying disease mechanisms and causes of pain in hand osteoarthritis (OA). Consequently, no disease-modifying drug exists, and more knowledge about the pathogenesis of hand OA is needed, as well as a validation of different outcome measures. Our first aim of this study is to explore the validity of various imaging modalities for the assessment of hand OA. Second, we want to gain a better understanding of the disease processes, with a special focus on pain mechanisms., Methods and Analysis: The Nor-Hand study is a hospital-based observational study including 300 patients with evidence of hand OA by ultrasound and/or clinical examination. The baseline examination consists of functional tests and joint assessment of the hands, medical assessment, pain sensitisation tests, ultrasound (hands, acromioclavicular joint, hips, knees and feet), CT and MRI of the dominant hand, conventional radiographs of the hands and feet, fluorescence optical imaging of the hands, collection of blood and urine samples as well as self-reported demographic factors and OA-related questionnaires. Two follow-up examinations are planned. Cross-sectional analyses will be used to investigate agreements and associations between different relevant measures at the baseline examination, whereas the longitudinal data will be used for evaluation of predictors for clinical outcomes., Ethics and Dissemination: The protocol is approved by the Norwegian Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics (Ref. no: 2014/2057). The participants receive oral and written information about the project and sign a consent form before participation. They can, whenever they want, withdraw from the study, and all de-identified data will be safely stored on the research server at Diakonhjemmet Hospital. Results will be presented at international and national congresses and in peer-reviewed rheumatology journals., Trial Registration Number: NCT03083548; Pre-results., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)