Design of the EPOSA-study
The EPOSA-study has been set up in two phases.
In the first phase of EPOSA, post-harmonisation was used to enable data from existing cohort studies to be combined to explore prevalence rates and consequences of osteoarthritis in Europe. A detailed description of the study design and data collection of the first phase of EPOSA is described in Schaap et al. (2011).
In the second phase of EPOSA, an observational study was performed, including pre-harmonized data from six European cohort-studies in older community dwelling persons aged 65-85 years. A detailed description of the study design and data collection of the second phase of EPOSA is described in Van der Pas et al. (2013).