Quality of life after total knee arthrop

الملخص EN

Background : The utilization rates of elective total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) are steadily increasing with an aging population.

Measuring the health-related QoL (HRQoL) has been increasingly acknowledged as a means of measuring knee replacement outcomes.

Objective : To assess the quality of life in patient-reported outcomes at 6 months post-operatively following total knee replacement.

Methods : A prospective observational study was carried out using the function subscale of a disease-specific measure—the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index—and a generic health status measure—the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36).

Independent variables examined included demographic variables (e.g., age, sex, BMI), medical variables (e.g., diagnosis, number of co-morbid conditions, ambulatory status), and knee range of motion.

Six months after intervention, patients again were re-evaluated by the same questionnaires.

Results : During the duration of the study (16 months), 37 patients were included in this study, three patients refused to rejoin the post-operative evaluation.

The mean age was 64 years and 57% of the patients were females.

Multivariate analysis, in which the pre-operative and postoperative scores were analyzed showed a significant improvement in both WOMAC but a lesser improvement in SF-36 results, 68.5 (SD ± 16.2) and 28.8 (SD ± 12.3) respectively.

Conclusions : The impact of total knee arthroplasty on patients’ quality of life is well noticed in the study as the procedure improves functional outcomes in uncomplicated patients.