Ethnicity and Knee Osteoarthritis: A comparative analysis of pain, function, and pain catastrophizing between South Florida Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Adults

Abstract Objective: Race is associated with reporting of pain, coping mechanisms, and disease severity in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). However, few studies have evaluated its importance in ethnicity, particularly the Hispanic population. We compare pain perception (VAS), function (WOMAC), and pain catastrophizing (PCS) between Hispanic (HP) and non-Hispanic (NHWP) patients stratified by socio-economic status (SES) and K-L grade. Methods: A cross-sectional study of patients from a tertiary care clinic between July 2021 and December 2022 was performed. Patients with knee pain, radiographs, and doctor-diagnosis of KOA completed questionnaires in English or Spanish. Descriptive statistics characterized demographic differences between NHWP and HP in VAS, PCS, and WOMAC. Two one-way analyses of variance evaluated the effect of both ethnicity and sex, with subgroup analyses stratifying by K-L grade. Multivariate general linear models assessed primary outcomes while controlling for confounders. Results: HP exhibited higher VAS, PCS, and WOMAC scores compared to NHWP. PCS was higher in HP (p = 0.004, mean = 8.89) than NHWP (mean = 4.58), as was VAS (p < 0.001, mean = 4.28 vs. 2.74) and WOMAC (p = 0.029, mean = 27.86 vs. 21.58). These differences remained when controlled for SES and K-L grade. Stratifying by sex and comparing primary outcomes between HP and NHWP, male HP had greater VAS (p = .021, mean = 3.83 vs. 2.42) and PCS (p = .008, mean = 8.83 vs. 3.35), while female HP had greater VAS (p = .019, mean = 4.62 vs. 3.08) and nonsignificantly greater PCS (p = .164, mean = 8.94 vs. 5.92). Conclusion: HP with KOA reported greater pain intensity, functional limitation, and PCS compared with NHWP, even after adjusting for SES and K-L grade.