COVID-19 pandemic has a ‘profound impact’ on hip and knee arthroplasty volume
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As nonessential surgery restrictions remain in parts of the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a “profound impact” on hip and knee arthroplasty volume and could translate to “major financial loss,” according to a study.
Nicholas A. Bedard, MD, and colleagues from the department of orthopedics and rehabilitation at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics used U.S. hip and knee arthroplasty procedure volume projections and data from the American Joint Replacement Registry to estimate the number of canceled primary and revision THA and TKA procedures.
According to the study, researchers estimated that 30,000 primary and 3,000 revision THA and TKA procedures will be canceled every week while restrictions remain in place.
“The results of this study highlight the profound impact COVID-19 is having on our current hip and knee arthroplasty volume. The large number of estimated cases canceled because of COVID-19 translates into major financial losses for our health care institutions and may have profound effects on our patients who had to have their surgery postponed,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Even when utilizing a relatively conservative cancellation scenario, estimates still translate close to 100,000 hip and knee arthroplasty procedures being canceled in a given month because of COVID-19,” they added.
“We hope that these estimates help policy makers, administrators, health care providers and patients better understand the impact COVID-19 is having on the hip and knee arthroplasty community and our patients as we all work together to combat this pandemic,” they concluded.
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