OBJECTIVES: Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of elderly osteoarthritic patients and description of their use of prescription drugs, OTC medications, and herbal remedies. METHODS: Online survey methodology utilizing WebTV technology and Random Digit Dialing (RDD) procedures was implemented. Short Form 36 (SF-36) health status instrument was administered to a panel of elderly arthritic patients (N=550), recruited randomly from 44 states in the US. Summary physical and mental component scores (PCS and MCS), and domain scores on eight SF-36 subscales were computed. RESULTS: A response rate of 87.27% (N=480) was achieved following the online administration of the survey in August 2001. Osteoarthritis (OA) was previously diagnosed in 42.3% (N=203) of the sample. Rheumatoid Arthritis was diagnosed in 16.5% of the sample. In the OA sample, 21.7% of the subjects also had osteoporosis. In general, males reported higher health status scores than females on physical functioning (PF), bodily pain (BP), social functioning (SF), and role physical (RP) domains of SF-36. Compared to the norms for the general US populations, our OA sample reported lower mean scores on five of the eight SF-36 domains. Respondent age was negatively correlated with both PCS (r=-0.196) and MCS (r=-0.179). PCS correlated significantly with both income and education variables (r=0.012 and r=0.027 respectively). Sixty two percent of the sample reported having used OTC acetaminophen to treat arthritis, while 29 % of the sample was currently using COX-2 inhibitors. Ninety percent of the sample had tried an alternative remedy such as Chondroitin and Glucosamine Sulfate during the past 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: Elderly patients with osteoarthritis reported poorer HRQOL compared to the elderly in the general US population. Preference for and use of nonprescription medications, particularly alternative remedies, appears to be quite common among elderly osteoarthritic patients.