Assessing quality of life gains in knee replacement patients across several post-operative time points

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Introduction: Knee replacement procedures are becoming increasingly common owing to population aging. This study aims to examine how various patient factors interact with changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after knee replacement surgery. By using HRQoL assessment tools such as the Short Fort 36, we can have a better understanding of the impacts of knee replacement surgery on patients. Methods: Ninety-seven eligible patients over a 6-year period were included in this retrospective study. Pre- and post-operative Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey, Knee Society Knee Score (KSKS) and Knee Society Functional Assessment Score (KSFA) questionnaires was performed. Results: Most of the statistically significant improvements occurred at postoperative 6 months. There was no significant correlation between patient's age and body mass index with post-operative SF-36 PCS or MCS scores. A pre-operative KSKS value of 53.5 or lower was found to be predictive of successful outcome (as defined as an improvement of 10 points or more on the SF-36 PCS compared to pre-operation level after surgery). Conclusion: Achieving satisfactory outcome after knee replacement is multifactorial with maximal gains occurring in the first 6 months after surgery.