Table 4. Hazard ratios of adjustment covariates from the stratified Cox model.
| HR* | 95% CI* | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-demographic | Gender | |||
| Male | ref. | |||
| Female | 0.883 | [0.795, 0.982] | 0.021 | |
| Age at diagnosis (continuous) | 1.018 | [1.013, 1.024] | < 0.0001 | |
| Knee OA condition | Primo-prescriber's specialty | |||
| Rheumatology/Physical medicine and rehabilitation | ref. | |||
| Orthopedic surgery | 1.148 | [0.948, 1.391] | 0.159 | |
| General practice (GP) | 1.208 | [1.068, 1.367] | 0.003 | |
| Annual visits to the specialists of joint diseases** | ||||
| Up to 4 times | ref. | |||
| From 5 to 10 times | 2.126 | [1.906, 2.372] | < 0.0001 | |
| More than 10 times | 7.281 | [6.066, 8.740] | < 0.0001 | |
| Number of knee with OA | ||||
| Two | ref. | |||
| One/Unknow | 1.406 | [1.271, 1.555] | < 0.0001 | |
| General health condition | Presence of long-term disease(s) at diagnosis | |||
| No | ref. | |||
| Yes | 1.218 | [1.082, 1.372] | 0.001 | |
| Charlson index | ||||
| 0 | ref. | |||
| 1–2 | 0.848 | [0.760, 0.947] | 0.003 | |
| 3 and higher | 0.842 | [0.712, 0.995] | 0.043 | |
| Annual visits to the GP | ||||
| Up to 12 times | ref. | |||
| From 13 to 24 times | 1.151 | [1.020, 1.298] | 0.022 | |
| More than 24 times | 1.892 | [1.396, 2.564] | < 0.0001 | |
| At least one hospitalization (TKR excluded) | ||||
| No | ref. | |||
| Yes | 0.489 | [0.440, 0.544] | < 0.0001 |
* HR = hazard ratio and CI = confidence interval
** Rheumatologist, orthopedic surgeon and physical medicine and rehabilitation practitioner
GP: general practitioner, TKR: total knee replacement, OA: osteoarthritis.