Medication and supplement use for managing joint symptoms among patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study

Table 2 Pharmacological and supplemental use among osteoarthritis knee and hip patients

Type, source and pattern of use	Frequency	Percentage
Overall number of reported interventions*
Zero	5	3.1
One	92	56.8
Two	55	34.0
Three or More	10	6.2
Class of intervention‡
NSAID	106	65.4
Other analgesics	55	34.0
Acetaminophen	38	23.5
Nutritional supplement	11	06.8
Level of intervention‡
Rx user only	80	49.4
OTC user only	46	28.4
Rx and OTC user	31	19.1
Source of recommendation‡
PCP only	41	25.3
Self-guided only	39	24.1
Orthopedic only	28	17.3
PCP and self-guided	16	09.9
Multiple professional sources	12	07.4
Orthopaedic and self-guided	11	06.8
Other sources	10	06.2
Recall medication dose‡
All	76	46.9
None	53	32.7
Some	28	17.3
Medications used as directed‡
Always	110	67.9
Never	34	21.0
Sometimes	13	08.0
2 week consistent medication use‡
Always	88	54.3
Never	48	29.6
Sometimes	21	13.0

* Interventions = prescription or over-the-counter medication as well as supplements.
‡ N = 157/162 participants whom reported using a pharmacological intervention, 5 participants reported using none.
NSAID = non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Rx = prescription, OTC = over-the-counter, and PCP = primary care physician.

ISSN: 1471-2474