Self-perceived burden, social support and pain, and kinesiophobia correlates in Chinese older adults with knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background: The health of the elderly has always been the focus of attention in various countries, and how to better enable the elderly to enjoy a good quality of life has become a major focus of our research. This study was conducted to increase knowledge on the actuality of social support and pain, self-perceived burden, and kinesiophbia in elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis in China to provide evidence for disease recovery.Methods: Cross-sectional survey using a general demographic questionnaire, social support and pain scale(SPQ), self-perceived burden scale and scale(SPBS), and Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia(TSK-11) were administered.Results: The results showed a prevalence of 57.89% for kinesiophobia in elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis. Social support and pain was negatively correlated with self-perceived burden scores and kinesiophobia scores（（r=-0.297,p＜0.01；r=-0.368,p＜0.01）, the self-perceived burden was positively correlated with kinesiophobia（r=0.605,p＜0.01）. The marital status, education, degree of understanding of the condition, pain degree, SPQ, and SPBS were associated with kinesiophobia, counting for 43.2% of the variance in kinesiophobia.Conclusions: The prevalence of kinesiophobia in elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis is very high. Medical works should take early intervention measures to improve pain social support and reduce the self-perceived burden, and help promote disease recovery.