Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2022 , Vol 25, Issue 2
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FEAR AVOIDANCE BELIEFS AND PHYSICAL DISABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH SYMPTOMATIC KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS
Mustafa NAMLI1, Fatma Nur KESİKTAŞ2, Nurdan PAKER2, Buşra ŞİRİN2, Fuat Orhun ALAYOĞLU2, Sedef ERSOY2
1Hamidiye faculty of Medicine, Psychiatry, Istanbul, Turkey
2University of Health Sciences, Istanbul Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Education Research Hospital, PMR, Ä°stanbul, Turkey
DOI : 10.31086/tjgeri.2022.288 Introduction: The aim of this clinical study was to investigate the relationship between fear avoidance beliefs and physical disability in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.

Materials and Method: A total of 195 patients with knee osteoarthritis were included in this cross-sectional study. Osteoarthritis severity was determined radiologically with the use of Kellgren-Lawrence staging approach. The "Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)" was used to determine pain severity, symptoms, function in daily living, sports/recreation activities, and knee-related "Quality of Life (QoL)". All patients were evaluated by the "Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire physical activity (FABQpa)" survey.

Results: Within the study group, 129 patients (78.7%) were female. The mean age was 62.6 (54?81) years. The mean body mass index was 30.17 (18.75 - 44.06) kg/m². The mean disease duration was 4.32 (1?15) years. Knee osteoarthritis was bilateral in 130 patients (66.7%). The radiological severity of knee osteoarthritis rated at stage II or III was 82.2%. The mean FABQpa rating was 17.17 ± 6.21 and 61% had a FABQpa score > 15. The mean KOOS on pain severity, symptoms, function in daily living, sport/recreation activities, and knee-related QoL scores were 65.15, 51.17, 58.29, 32.69 and 35.9, respectively. Significant correlations were found between FABQpa and KOOS pain, symptoms, function in daily living, sport/recreation activities, and knee-related QoL (p-values were 0.001 for all domains of FABQ).

Conclusion: In this study, more than half of the patients with knee osteoarthritis had elevated fear avoidance beliefs. Moreover, fear avoidance beliefs on physical activity had significant relationships with pain, symptoms, functional disability and QoL. Keywords : Fear; Osteoarthritis, Knee; Arthralgia