Specific Aims: 1) To examine differences between AA and white patients with knee OA in willingness to consider knee joint replacement. 2) To examine the relationship between socio-cultural factors and patient willingness to consider joint replacement. 3) To examine how demographic, socio-cultural, and clinical factors mediate the relationship between race and patient willingness. 4) To examine the relationship between patient willingness and referral to orthopedic care for knee OA (secondary aim).

Experimental design/Methodology: A cross-sectional survey study design will be used to examine socio-cultural and clinical factors that may vary by race/ethnicity and may be determinants of willingness to consider joint replacement as a treatment option. Patients with symptomatic and radiographic knee OA from the primary care clinics will be surveyed. Only individuals with knee OA of sufficient severity that would be considered candidates for joint replacement will be included. Analytic strategies include ordinal logistic regression, path analysis, and regression trees.

Subject population: The study sample will consist of approximately 133 African American and 419 white patients with OA of the knee in a primary care setting.

Inclusion Criteria:

• over age 50
• chronic knee pain
• radiographic evidence of knee OA

Exclusion Criteria:

• previous joint replacement
• inflammatory arthritis

African Americans and Whites over the age of 50 with chronic knee pain.