Finger joint pain in relation to radiographic osteoarthritis and joint location—a study of middle-aged female dentists and teachers

Objectives. To investigate the associations of radiographic finger joint osteoarthritis (ROA), hand laterality (right/left) and anatomical location within the hand, with finger joint pain. Methods. Radiographs of both hands of 295 female dentists and 248 female teachers were examined for the presence of osteoarthritis in each finger joint, using grades 0 ¼ no OA, 1 ¼ doubtful OA, 2 ¼ mild OA, 3 ¼ moderate OA, 4 ¼ severe OA. Information on the occurrence of pain in each finger joint during the past 30 days and hand laterality was obtained by questionnaire. Results. Compared with subjects with no ROA, the prevalence ratio (PR) of finger joint pain was 1.92 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.61–2.34] among those with mild ROA and 5.34 (4.51–6.54) among those with at least moderate ROA, based on a multivariate log-binomial regression model. Pain was slightly more common in the right than in the left hand (1.27; 1.15–1.40). Compared with the little finger, more pain occurred in the thumb (2.67; 2.25–3.16), the index finger (1.76; 1.50–2.07) and the middle finger (1.47; 1.24–1.74). Further, pain was more common in the proximal interphalangeal (1.77; 1.56–2.00) and the distal interphalangeal (1.51; 1.29–1.76) joints than in the metacarpophalangeal joints. The strength of the association between ROA and finger joint pain increased with the severity of pain. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that ROA, anatomic localization within the hand, and hand laterality have independent effects on finger joint pain.