Age and Comorbidities Affect Quality of Life in Patients With Osteoarthrtitis and Knee Replacement

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifactorial, disabling and degenerative disease that worsens with age and affects patient’s health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

The current study aimed to assess if age and comorbidities have an influence on knee OA and knee replacement outcome before and after the surgery.

A quasi-experimental intervention study was conducted on a sample of 125 patients with knee osteoarthritis and designed to assess total knee arthroplasty (TKA) outcomes before and after the surgery. One orthopedic surgeon performed all surgeries with the same type of joint prosthesis from 2008 to 2012. The HRQOL was assessed by the short form (36) health survey (SF-36) questionnaire.

It was observed that knee osteoarthritis significantly affects all the dimensions of HRQOL before the surgery included in the SF-36 questionnaire and a clinical improvement observed after the intervention with total knee arthroplasty. Age influenced bodily pain (P = 0.012) and vitality (P = 0.002) in knee osteoarthritis (before the intervention), and on physical (P = 0.040) and mental health components (P = 0.002), after total knee arthroplasty. Previous arthroplasties and comorbidities had no effect on knee OA. However, previous total knee/hip arthroplasty were associated with the improvement in physical functioning (P = 0.021) after the TKA; comorbidities influenced the dimension of mental health (MH) (P = 0.036) after the surgery.

Total knee arthroplasty is justified according to the perception of clinical improvement and the improvement in the dimensions of HRQOL reported by the patients. Age affects knee osteoarthritis and TKA outcomes. Comorbidities have no influence on knee OA, but affect mental health after the intervention.