Study: Only half of joint replacement patients with arthritis have improved outcomes

Canadian researchers have found that only half of patients with osteoarthritis or inflammatory arthritis of the hip or knee showed a good outcome of improved pain and disability scores after total joint replacement.

“Many patients with hip and knee arthritis have the condition in more than one of their hip or knee joints,” Gillian A. Hawker, MD, MSc, of the Women’s College Hospital and the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences, stated in a press release. “So it’s not surprising that replacing a single joint doesn’t alleviate all their pain and disability — patients may need subsequent surgeries to maximize the benefits of joint replacement.”

Hawker and colleagues evaluated WOMAC scores of 202 patients who underwent total joint replacement from a population-based cohort of 2,400 people with either osteoarthritis (OA) or inflammatory arthritis (IA). There was a mean 10.2 point improvement in WOMAC scores postoperatively. However, only 53.5% patients experienced a good outcome, according to the abstract.

The researchers noted the probability of a good outcome was higher when patients had less comorbidity, osteoarthritis, fewer “troublesome hips/knees” and worse preoperative WOMAC scores.

Reference:

Hawker GA. Arthrit Rheum. 2013;doi:10.1002/art.37901.

Disclosure: This study was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.