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When it hurts, a positive attitude may help: association of positive affect with daily walking in knee osteoarthritis. Results from a multicenter longitudinal cohort study
Author(s) -
White Daniel K.,
Keysor Julie J.,
Neogi Tuhina,
Felson David T.,
LaValley Michael,
Gross K. Doug,
Niu Jingbo,
Nevitt Michael,
Lewis Cora E.,
Torner Jim,
Fredman Lisa
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
arthritis care and research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.032
H-Index - 163
eISSN - 2151-4658
pISSN - 2151-464X
DOI - 10.1002/acr.21694
Subject(s) - osteoarthritis , affect (linguistics) , medicine , confidence interval , physical therapy , knee pain , activities of daily living , depression (economics) , cohort study , cohort , psychology , alternative medicine , communication , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
Objective While depressive symptoms and knee pain are independently known to impede daily walking in older adults, it is unknown whether positive affect promotes daily walking. This study investigated this association among adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and examined whether knee pain modified this association. Methods This study is a cross‐sectional analysis of the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study. We included 1,018 participants (mean ± SD age 63.1 ± 7.8 years, 60% women) who had radiographic knee OA and had worn a StepWatch monitor to record their number of steps per day. High and low positive affect and depressive symptoms were based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Knee pain was categorized as present in respondents who reported pain on most days at both a clinic visit and a telephone screening. Results Compared to respondents with low positive affect (27% of all respondents), those with high positive affect (63%) walked a similar number of steps per day, while those with depressive symptoms (10%) walked less (adjusted β −32.6 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) −458.9, 393.8] and −579.1 [95% CI −1,274.9, 116.7], respectively). There was a statistically significant interaction of positive affect by knee pain ( P = 0.0045). Among the respondents with knee pain (39%), those with high positive affect walked significantly more steps per day (adjusted β 711.0 [95% CI 55.1, 1,366.9]) than those with low positive affect. Conclusion High positive affect was associated with more daily walking among adults with painful knee OA. Positive affect may be an important psychological factor to consider for promoting physical activity among people with painful knee OA.