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TKR improved functional status in patients with knee OA
Patients with knee osteoarthritis enrolled in the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study experienced greater improvement in functional status compared with patients enrolled in the Osteoarthritis Initiative, likely due to higher rates of total knee replacement, according to study results.
Researchers enrolled patients from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (MOST) and the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) who were diagnosed or had a high risk of osteoarthritis (OA), had knee radiographs, completed WOMAC surveys and had total knee replacement (TKR) confirmed at each visit.
Patients were defined as having symptomatic OA if one or more knees had pain and radiographic OA or if they had undergone a TKA. Researchers compared WOMAC function scores at each visit through covariance analysis, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, race, site, depression, comorbidity, painful leg joint and knees affected, and imputed post-TKR function scores to estimate scores that would have been present without TKR. Patients were followed for 4 to 5 years.
According to study results, 35% of patients with symptomatic OA enrolled in MOST underwent TKR vs. 19% in OAI. The researchers also found improvement of adjusted mean WOMAC function from 26.9 to 21.9 in MOST and from 24.5 to 22 in OAI. Overall, function would not have changed in patients enrolled in MOST without TKRs.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.