Short-term clinical worsening is a clear predictor for worsening at 2 years in established knee and hip osteoarthritis.

Objectives: Our aim was to estimate the proportion of knee and hip OA patients showing worsening at 2 years, and to examine the additional predictive value of failure of optimised non-surgical treatment during 3 months for worsening at 2 years.

Methods: Data of patients participating in the longitudinal CONTROL-PRO study (patients fulfilling clinical ACR criteria for knee or hip OA) were used. Measurements of pain, functioning and patient global assessments were performed at baseline, 3 months and 2 years.

[Unexplained pain in the ankle and foot. Consider transient osteoporosis].

Transient osteoporosis is an increasingly recognized condition that causes severe pain in weight-bearing joints and is characterized by otherwise unexplained bone-marrow oedema on MRI. We present two patients, a 40-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman, with longstanding severe pain in the foot and ankle. Both had invalidating pain with only mild swelling of the foot or ankle.

[Acute arthritis in sarcoidosis: Löfgren's syndrome].

Sarcoidosis is a systemic inflammatory disease usually presenting with pulmonary symptoms. However, acute arthritis could be the presenting sign of sarcoidosis. We present a 47-year-old man with bilateral arthritis of the ankles, erythema nodosum and bilateral hilar adenopathy on the chest X-ray.

Treatment outcomes of a Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)-guided pharmacological pain management strategy in symptomatic knee and hip osteoarthritis in daily clinical practice.

Objectives: To describe the results of a Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)-guided pharmacological pain management strategy in symptomatic knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA) in daily clinical practice.

Methods: In this observational cohort study, standardised conservative treatment was offered to patients with symptomatic knee and/or hip OA referred to secondary care. Pain management was guided by a NRS for pain, aiming for NRS ≤4.

Fatigue in knee and hip osteoarthritis: the role of pain and physical function.

Objectives: It is suggested that serious levels of fatigue are present in nearly half of patients with OA. However, it is unclear which dimensions of fatigue are involved, if fatigue is related to pain and physical function, and if fatigue is influenced by therapy. The aims of this study were to measure levels of different dimensions of fatigue before and after evidenced-based conservative treatment and to investigate the association between fatigue and pain and physical function in patients with knee or hip OA.

The effects of doxycycline on reducing symptoms in knee osteoarthritis: results from a triple-blinded randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: Evidence suggests that doxycycline might have disease-modifying properties in osteoarthritis. However, the clinically relevant question as to whether doxycycline also modifies symptoms in knee osteoarthritis is unanswered. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of doxycycline on pain and daily functioning in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.