“You Don’t Put It Down To Arthritis”: Qualitative Analysis Of The First Symptoms Recalled By Individuals With Knee Osteoarthritis

Purpose: The OARSI-endorsed Early-Stage Knee Osteoarthritis (EsKOA) initiative is developing classification criteria for EsKOA. This will facilitate identifying and enrolling individuals into clinical trials evaluating disease-modifying OA therapies at an early stage, with view to slowing or halting progression. To seek patient perspectives during the first phase of the initiative, we explored the first symptoms and experiences of knee osteoarthritis (OA) recalled by individuals with knee OA, using qualitative methods.