Comparison of responders and nonresponders with knee osteoarthritis after transcranial direct current stimulation

Aim: The study compared responders and nonresponders to transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) regarding clinical pain outcomes in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Patients and Methods/Materials: Sixty participants received home-based active tDCS, and clinical pain outcomes were compared between responders and nonresponders. Results: Latent class growth analyses classified 41 participants as responders and 19 as nonresponders. Responders showed significantly greater decreases in pain intensity from baseline to post intervention than nonresponders (p <.001). Participants with higher BMI (p =.02) and weight (p =.005) were more likely to respond, while no significant sociodemographic differences were found. Conclusions: Identifying characteristics of nonresponsive tDCS subgroups can tailor treatments for each group. Clinical trial registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov identifier is NCT04016272.