Social prescribing to reduce polypharmacy in patients with COPD in general practice.

Patients suffering from COPD are often treated with a substantial number of medications due to multimorbidity. The combination of multimorbidity and polypharmacy can make the treatment of individuals with COPD difficult. Although guidelines in recent years have focused on the reduction of inappropriate medication, there is still room for improvement. This review suggests an increased focus on smoking cessation and physical activity in terms of the use of social prescribing to prevent polypharmacy and thereby improve sustainability in patients with COPD.

Patient-reported Outcomes and Muscle Strength after a Physiotherapy-led Exercise and Support Brace Intervention in Patients with Acute Injury of the Posterior Cruciate Ligament: A Two-year Follow-up Study.

Background: While outcomes of posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries treated surgically are well described, prospective studies reporting outcomes of exercise interventions are lacking. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in patient-reported outcomes of a physiotherapy-led exercise and support brace intervention in patients with acute injury of the PCL over a two-year follow-up period. Furthermore, this study sought to investigate changes in isometric knee muscle strength over an eight-month follow-up period, and finally to report conversion to surgical reconstruction over a two-year follow-up period. Study design: Case series study, prospective. Methods: Fifty patients with an acute injury of the PCL were treated with a brace and a physiotherapy-led exercise intervention and followed prospectively. Changes in patient-reported outcomes were measured with the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form (IKDC-SKF) and the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) from baseline (diagnosis) to two-year follow-up. Furthermore, changes in isometric knee flexion and extension strength were measured with a static strength dynamometer from 16 weeks after diagnosis to one-year follow-up. Conversion to surgery was prospectively extracted from medical records. Mean changes were analyzed with a mixed effects model with time as a fixed factor. Results: The IKDC-SKF score improved 28 (95%CI 24-33) IKDC points from baseline to two-year follow-up. Isometric knee flexion strength of the injured knee increased 0.18 (95%CI 0.11-0.25) Nm/kg from 16 weeks after diagnosis to one-year follow-up, corresponding to an increase of 16%. In contrast, isometric knee extension strength of the injured knee did not change (0.12 (95%CI 0.00-0.24) Nm/kg, p=0.042). Over two years, seven patients converted to PCL surgical reconstruction. One and two-year follow-up were completed by 46 and 31 patients, respectively. Conclusions: The physiotherapy-led exercise and support brace intervention demonstrated clinically relevant improvements in patient-reported outcomes and knee flexion strength, and the risk of PCL surgical reconstruction was considered low within the first two years. Level of evidence: 3b©The Author(s).

Comparing exercise and patient education with usual care in the treatment of hip dysplasia: a protocol for a randomised controlled trial with 6-month follow-up (MovetheHip trial).

INTRODUCTION: Surgery is not a viable treatment for all patients with hip dysplasia. Currently, usual care for these patients is limited to a consultation on self-management. We have shown that an exercise and patient education intervention is a feasible and acceptable intervention for patients not receiving surgery. Therefore, we aim to investigate whether patients with hip dysplasia randomised to exercise and patient education have a different mean change in self-reported pain compared with those randomised to usual care over 6 months. Furthermore, we aim to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and perform a process evaluation. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In a randomised controlled trial, 200 young and middle-aged patients will be randomised to either exercise and patient education or usual care at a 1:1 ratio through permuted block randomisation. The intervention group will receive exercise instruction and patient education over 6 months. The usual care group will receive one consultation on self-management of hip symptoms. The primary outcome is the self-reported mean change in the pain subscale of the Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score (HAGOS). Secondary outcomes include mean changes in the other HAGOS subscales, in the Short Version of the International Hip Outcome Tool, in performance, balance and maximal hip muscle strength. Between-group comparison from baseline to 6-month follow-up will be made with intention-to-treat analyses with a mixed-effects model. Cost-effectiveness will be evaluated by relating quality-adjusted life years and differences in HAGOS pain to differences in costs over 12 months. The functioning of the intervention will be evaluated as implementation, mechanisms of change and contextual factors. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol was approved by the Committee on Health Research Ethics in the Central Denmark Region and registered at ClinicalTrials. Positive, negative and inconclusive findings will be disseminated through international peer-reviewed scientific journals and international conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04795843.

Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Exercise Adherence Rating Scale (EARS) into Danish.

The Exercise Adherence Rating Scale (EARS) is a self-administrated questionnaire designed to measure adherence to prescribed home-based exercises in a British population. In a Danish context, no reliable and valid questionnaires are available to measure exercise adherence. This study aimed to translate and cross-culturally adapt the EARS into Danish following international guidelines and to provide insights about construct validity in a Danish population with longstanding hip pain. The EARS was translated and cross-culturally adapted into Danish using a forward-backward method. The understanding and interpretability of the EARS were evaluated with semistructured interviews in 24 patients with longstanding hip pain due to hip dysplasia (22 females; median age 30 (IQR 24-37)). These patients were prescribed home-based exercises. Using Spearman's correlation, construct validity was evaluated by assessing if the Danish version of EARS was correlated with completed exercise sessions and self-reported pain and sport/recreation function. The EARS was translated and cross-culturally adapted into Danish following minor adjustments. The EARS was statistically significantly correlated to completed exercise sessions (p=0.005), self-reported pain (p=0.005), and sport/recreation function (p < 0.03). In patients with longstanding hip pain, the Danish EARS seems suitable to measure adherence to prescribed exercises; however, further evaluation of measurement properties may be needed.

Isometric hip strength impairments in patients with hip dysplasia are improved but not normalized 1 year after periacetabular osteotomy: a cohort study of 82 patients.

Background and purpose - In patients with hip dysplasia, knowledge of hip muscle strength after periacetabular osteotomy is lacking. We investigated isometric hip muscle strength in patients with hip dysplasia, before and 1 year after periacetabular osteotomy, and compared this with healthy volunteers. Furthermore, we investigated whether pre- to post-surgical changes in self-reported pain and sporting function were associated with changes in isometric hip muscle strength.Patients and methods - Isometric hip muscle strength was assessed twice in 82 patients (11 men) with a mean age of 30 (SD 9) years, before and 1 year after surgery, and once in 50 healthy volunteers. Isometric hip muscle strength was assessed with a hand-held dynamometer. Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score was used to measure self-reported outcome.Results - Despite 1-year improvements in isometric hip flexion (0.1 Nm/kg; 95% CI 0.06-0.2) and abduction (0.1 Nm/kg; CI 0.02-0.2), the patients' muscle strength was 13-34% lower than the strength of the healthy volunteers both pre- and post-surgery (p < 0.01). Moreover, changes in self-reported pain were associated with changes in hip flexion (13 points per Nm/kg; CI 1-26) and abduction (14 points per Nm/kg; CI 3-25), while changes in self-reported sporting function were associated with changes in hip extension (9 points per Nm/kg; CI 1-18).Interpretation - Isometric hip muscle strength is impaired in symptomatic dysplastic hips measured before periacetabular osteotomy. 1 year after surgery, isometric hip flexion and abduction strength had improved but muscle strength did not reach that of healthy volunteers.

Hip muscle and joint contact forces before, 6 and 12 months after minimally invasive periacetabular osteotomy.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies on different periacetabular osteotomy approaches for correction of hip dysplasia disagree on the time course of normalisation of muscle function postoperatively, some stating that especially hip flexor function is not fully normalised after 12 months. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate hip function during walking before, and 6 and 12 months after minimally invasive periacetabular osteotomy. METHODS: Using conventional 3D inverse dynamics followed by static optimisation, we calculated hip net joint moment and angular impulse, as well as individual muscle forces and hip joint contact force, during walking for 32 patients with hip dysplasia and 32 matched controls. RESULTS: None of the extensor and abductor measures were significantly different between controls and patients tested preoperatively, nor between any of the 3 time points patients were tested. For all of the flexor measures, patients' preoperative values were lower than controls', but had increased to values above the controls 6 months postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Hip muscle function during walking seemed normalised after 6 months after minimally invasive periacetabular osteotomy, while joint contact force did not fully normalise until 12 months postoperatively, perhaps because the hip joint structures need a longer time to heal than the muscles and a potential pain alleviating strategy was still in effect. TRIAL REGISTRY: Movement pattern in patients with hip dysplasia https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01344421, NCT01344421.

Efficacy of periacetabular osteotomy followed by progressive resistance training compared to progressive resistance training as non-surgical treatment in patients with hip dysplasia (PreserveHip) - a protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is an established treatment for adolescent and adult patients with hip dysplasia. However, the efficacy of PAO has not been tested against another surgical intervention or conservative treatment in a randomised controlled trial before. We suggest that progressive resistance training (PRT) could be an alternative to PAO. The primary aim of this trial is therefore to examine the efficacy of PAO followed by 4 months of usual care followed by 8 months of PRT compared to 12 months of solely PRT in patients with hip dysplasia eligible for PAO in terms of patient-reported pain measured by The Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score (HAGOS). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This trial is a single-blinded multicentre randomised controlled clinical trial, where patients with hip dysplasia, who are eligible for PAO, will be randomised to either PAO followed by usual care and PRT or PRT only. Primary outcome is patient-reported pain, measured on the subscale pain on the HAGOS questionnaire 12 months after initiation of PAO or PRT. The key secondary outcomes are the other subscales of the HAGOS, adverse and serious adverse events, usage of painkillers (yes/no) and type of analgesics. Based on the sample size calculation, the trial needs to include 96 patients. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The trial is approved by the Central Denmark Region Committee on Biomedical Research Ethics (Journal No 1-10-72-234-18) and by the Danish Data Protection Agency (Journal No 1-16-02-120-19). The trial is also approved by The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics, Region South-East Norway (Ref. 2018/1603). All results from this trial will be published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals regardless of whether the results are positive, negative or inconclusive. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03941171.

Patient-reported outcome and muscle-tendon pain after periacetabular osteotomy are related: 1-year follow-up in 82 patients with hip dysplasia.

Background and purpose - Larger prospective studies investigating periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) with patient-reported outcome measures developed for young patients are lacking. We investigated changes in patient-reported outcome (PRO), changes in muscle-tendon pain, and any associations between them from before to 1 year after PAO. Patients and methods - Outcome after PAO was investigated in 82 patients. PRO was investigated with the Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score (HAGOS). Muscle-tendon pain in the hip and groin region was identified with standardized clinical tests, and any associations between them were analyzed with multivariable linear regressions. Results - HAGOS subscales improved statistically significantly from before to 1 year after PAO with effect sizes ranging from medium to very large (0.66-1.37). Muscle-tendon pain in the hip and groin region showed a large decrease in prevalence from 74% (95% CI 64-83) before PAO to 35% (95% CI 25-47) 1 year after PAO. Statistically significant associations were observed between changes in HAGOS and change in the sum of muscle-tendon pain, ranging from -4.7 (95% CI -8.4 to -1.0) to -8.2 (95% CI -13 to -3.3) HAGOS points per extra painful entity across all subscales from before to 1 year after PAO. Interpretation - Patients with hip dysplasia experience medium to very large improvements in PRO 1 year after PAO, associated with decreased muscle-tendon pain. The understanding of hip dysplasia as solely a joint disease should be reconsidered since muscle-tendon pain seems to play an important role in relation to the outcome after PAO.

Muscle-tendon-related abnormalities detected by ultrasonography are common in symptomatic hip dysplasia.

INTRODUCTION: Hip dysplasia is characterized by reduced acetabular coverage of the femoral head leading to an increased mechanical load on the hip joint and the acting hip muscles. Potentially, the muscles and tendons functioning close to the hip joint may present with overuse-related ultrasonography findings. The primary aim was to report the prevalence of muscle-tendon-related abnormalities detected by ultrasonography in 100 patients with symptomatic hip dysplasia. The secondary aim was to investigate correlations between muscle-tendon-related abnormalities detected by ultrasonography and clinically identified pain related to muscles and tendons. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred patients (17 men) with a mean age of 29 ± 9 years were included. Muscle-tendon-related abnormalities were detected with a standardized ultrasound examination. Correlations between muscle-tendon-related abnormalities detected by ultrasonography and clinically identified pain related to muscles and tendons were tested with Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The most prevalent ultrasonography findings were identified in the iliopsoas tendon [50% (95% CI 40; 60)], the adductor longus tendon [31% (95% 22; 40)] and the gluteus medius/minimus tendons [27% (18; 36)]. Significant correlations between ultrasonography findings and pain related to muscles and tendons were only found for the iliopsoas tendon (ρ = 0.24 and p = 0.02) and the gluteus medius/minimus tendons (ρ = 0.35 and p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Muscle-tendon-related abnormalities detected by ultrasonography in the hip and groin region are common in patients with symptomatic hip dysplasia, and the ultrasonography findings of the iliopsoas and gluteus medius/minimus tendons are weakly to moderately correlated to pain related to muscles and tendons in these structures. Both the iliopsoas and the gluteus medius/minimus have a pronounced stabilizing role in the dysplastic hip joint, and the common muscle-tendon-related abnormalities in these patients may be caused by injuries related to excessive use or degenerative changes in the muscle-tendon tissue.

Muscle-tendon-related pain in 100 patients with hip dysplasia: prevalence and associations with self-reported hip disability and muscle strength.

The primary aim was to identify muscle-tendon-related pain in 100 patients with hip dysplasia. The secondary aim was to test whether muscle-tendon-related pain is associated with self-reported hip disability and muscle strength in patient with hip dysplasia. One hundred patients (17 men) with a mean age of 29 years (SD 9) were included. Clinical entity approach was carried out to identify muscle-tendon-related pain. Associations between muscle-tendon-related pain and self-reported hip disability and muscle strength were tested with multiple regression analysis, including adjustments for age and gender. Self-reported hip disability was recorded with the Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score (HAGOS), and muscle strength was assessed with a handheld dynamometer. Iliopsoas- and abductor-related pain were most prevalent with prevalences of 56% (CI 46; 66) and 42% (CI 32; 52), respectively. Adductor-, hamstrings- and rectus abdominis-related pain were less common. There was a significant inverse linear association between muscle-tendon-related pain and self-reported hip disability ranging from -3.35 to - 7.51 HAGOS points in the adjusted analysis (P < 0.05). Besides the association between muscle-tendon-related pain and hip extension a significant inverse linear association between muscle-tendon-related pain and muscle strength was found ranging from -0.11 to - 0.12 Nm/kg in the adjusted analysis (P < 0.05). Muscle-tendon-related pain exists in about half of patients with hip dysplasia with a high prevalence of muscle-tendon-related pain in the iliopsoas and the hip abductors and affects patients' self-reported hip disability and muscle strength negatively.

Reliability of the Danish version of the short questionnaire to assess health-enhancing physical activity (SQUASH).

OBJECTIVE: To translate and cross-cultural adapt the short questionnaire to assess health-enhancing physical activity (SQUASH) to Danish, and to investigate the Danish version's reliability. METHODS: The study was conducted according to the COSMIN guidelines. The reliability was evaluated in 53 healthy subjects, mean age 47.1 ± 12.4 years and mean period 37.8 ± 14.8 days between test and retest. RESULTS: For the total activity score ICC was 0.73 (0.57 to 0.83), SEM was 2316 (24% of the grand mean), and SDC was 6419 (67% of the grand mean). CONCLUSION: The relative reliability was acceptable and indicates that the Danish version of SQUASH can be used to distinguish between individuals; however, the absolute reliability was poor and SQUASH is not considered suitable for measuring physical activity on an individual level.