Design
obesity, knee Osteoarthritis
OBESITY
This economic evaluation was conducted alongside a 12-month pragmatic, parallel, 2-group cluster-randomized controlled trial (cRCT) in primary care: the OCTOPuS trial (Optimization of exerCise Therapy in patients with knee Osteoarthritis in a Primary care Setting).A total of 61 physical therapy practices (clusters) with 137 physical therapists were randomly allocated (1:2 ratio) to the experimental (23 practices with 54 physical therapists) or control arm (38 practices with 83 physical therapists), by using a web-based randomization program, with random sequence generation and concealment of randomization guaranteed. An independent researcher who was blinded to treatment allocation performed the randomization of physical therapy practices and supervised the blinded, primary (effectiveness) analyses. In addition, 21 dieticians (each of them linked to an experimental arm physical therapy practice) were recruited to provide the diet intervention in patients from the ‘obesity subgroup’. More details are reported elsewhere.