Pain Management in the Elderly: Transdermal Fentanyl for the Treatment of Pain Caused by Osteoarthritis of the Knee and Hip

Table 1

Osteoarthrosis-demographic data and data obtained from history taking in the beginning of treatment.

Criterion	Hip joint	Knee joint
Number of patients	9	39
Sex
Female	6	25
Male	3	14
Age (years—mean)	63.4	60.7
Clinical symptoms
Arthritis	100%	100%
Reduction of mobility	88.8%	98.5%
Crepitations in joints	44.4%	62.0%
Radiological symptoms
Narrowing of articular fissure	88.8%	68.0%
Irregularities of articular surface	33.3%	37.4%
Sclerosis/osteophyte	44.4%	30.5%
Main causes of osteoarthrosis
Loading/overloading	55.5%	67.3%
Injuries	22.2%	21.7%
Defect of cartilage	11.1%	20.4%
Metabolic disturbances	22.2%	14.2%
Duration of disease (years)
<2	—	33.5%
2–5	—	31.6%
5–10	55.5%	21.9%
>10	44.4%	13.0%
Engaged joint
Right	66.6%	49.1%
Left	33.3%	29.2%
Both	—	21.2%