Getting a new knee may boost quality of life
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People with severe osteoarthritis of the knee who have knee replacement surgery are apt to see significant improvements in their “health-related” quality of life, new research shows.
Knee osteoarthritis—the wear-and-tear form of arthritis in which the cartilage cushioning the joints gradually breaks down and, in severe cases, can completely wear away—is a major cause of pain and disability, particularly in aging individuals.
“The demand for total knee replacement is increasing as patients gain considerable pain relief and increased mobility and health-related quality of life,” Dr. Montserrat Nunez, from the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues note in a report in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.
Over 7 years, they assessed health-related quality of life in 112 patients who had knee replacement surgery. They found that most of these patients (86 or 76.8%) were satisfied or very satisfied with their total knee replacement.
Eighty-nine patients (79.5%) said they would have the surgery again in similar circumstances.
The 23 patients who said they would not have the operation again cited difficult recovery, increased pain, and insufficient improvement as the main reasons why.
Nunez and colleagues note that 56% of patients in the study were involved in regular physical activity at 7 years and these patients had better outcomes than those who did not do regular physical activity.
However, the results also suggest that people who are obese don’t do as well after knee replacement surgery as people who are at a healthy weight, and that women typically do not glean as much benefit from the surgery as do men.
“Women had significantly worse pain and function at 7 years,” Nunez told Reuters Health.
“Women entered surgery with worse pain and function than men, although this was not a significant factor,” the researcher explained. Other researchers have found that women are either more adversely affected by arthritis or further along in the disease process before considering knee surgery.
SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, August 15, 2009.
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