INTRODUCTION: The American Knee Society score (AKSS) and the Oxford Knee score (OKS) are widely used health outcome measures for total knee replacements. The AKSS is a surgeon-assessed, variable weighted knee score. The OKS is a patient assessed equally weighted score. Our aim was to evaluate whether patient self assessment is a viable alternative to clinical review and whether it can provide enough information to identify which patient would require a clinic visit.

As there had been no previous studies correlating the two scoring systems, we investigated whether a correlation exists between the two scores at 2, 5 and 10 year periods. A correlation would allow us to determine what OKS value would achieve 90% sensitivity in identifying patients requiring clinical review at the above time points. This strategy would reduce the number of clinical visits required and its associated cost.

METHODS: We reviewed the data gathered prospectively from January 2000 to April 2006. All patients were part of an ongoing multi-surgeon single institution Knee Arthroplasty Outcome Programme. Preoperative, 2, 5 and 10 year post-operative OKS and AKSS were gathered from different cohorts. This method of comparison has been validated by previous publications. The scores were then analyzed using the Pearson correlation and linear regression. Different OKS values were analyzed for sensitivity and specificity.

RESULTS: 175 patients completed both the OKS and AKSS questionnaires preoperatively. 312 completed both scores at 2 years; 124 at 5 years and 57 patients at 10 years. The mean OKS, and the two AKSS components, the Knee score and Functional score improved significantly 2 years postoperatively when compared to their preoperative values. The Functional score deteriorated significantly from 5 to 10 years (p< 0.0001). There was good correlation between the OKS and the Knee score and Functional score at 2 years and a moderate correlation at 5 to 10 years. OKS > 24 showed more than 90 % sensitivity in identifying poor Knee scores in the 2, 5 and 10 year periods.

CONCLUSION: In this study, the good correlation of OKS and AKSS at 2-years suggests that postal Oxford questionnaire is sufficient in following up patients in the short term after total knee replacement. However, the moderate correlation at 5 and 10 years suggests that clinical evaluation is necessary.

We recommend that at 2 years, all patients complete an OKS questionnaire and if this is above 24, a clinical evaluation maybe required. Using this OKS value as a screening technique would allow a reduction of up to 50% in clinic visits and outpatient costs at the 2 year follow-up. This reduction is not as great at the 5 and 10 year periods. At these time periods, we recommend a clinical follow-up.