Abstract
Introduction: Quality of life is becoming in the last years an essential element of evaluation of treatments. The aimof this prospective cohort study is to assess the quality of life and the speciþc patient perspective on knee replacement. A pre- and post-operative patient-oriented study was conducted on patients operated on knee replacement for symptomatic knee arthritis to measure their quality of life. Material and Methods: There were 50 patients, mean age 71.3 (5.1 SD) years, affected by knee arthritis. The SF-36 questionnaire (ofþcial Italian version) and Oxford validated Italian version questionnaire (OKQ) were administered preoperatively and post-operatively (at 2 years of follow-up Ð SD 1.5). The results were compared within and with those of an age-matched and sex healthy sample (n=351) published in Literature. The appropriated statistical analysis was used on results data. Results: The SF-36 domain scores for the pre- and post-operative data were respectively the following: PF 32.50±24.43 and 50,81±27.21; RF 13.63±28.58 and 63.09±47.18; BP 14.47±11.44 and 50.45±28.61; GH 55.08±15.36 and 56.71±20.29; VT 44.77±15.77 and 58.19±16.84; SF 55.08±25.15 and 71.81±25.60; RE 42.00±46.31 and 65.09±40.14; MH 58.72±16.85 and 61.71±20.14; PCS 27.00±6.22 and 38.71±9.51; MCS 46.13±11.10 and 47.76±9.43. The OKQ respectively 47.00±7.86 and 27.72±10.66. Appropriated statistical tests were performed. Conclusions: Knee replacement signiþcantly improve patientsñ perception of their own health. Moreover the patient-oriented speciþc measure give results really reassuring on knee replacement results. A better knowledge of the health status changes induced by knee replacement might help further deþne the indications to surgery and cost-beneþt relationship.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
