2023 American College of Rheumatology and American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons Clinical Practice Guideline for the Optimal Timing of Elective Hip or Knee Arthroplasty for Patients With Symptomatic Moderate-to-Severe Osteoarthritis or Advanced Symptomatic Osteonecrosis With Secondary Arthritis for Whom Nonoperative Therapy Is Ineffective

Obesity Severity Does Not Associate With Rate, Timing, or Invasiveness of Early Reinterventions After Total Knee Arthroplasty

BACKGROUND

The use of body mass index (BMI) cutoff values has been suggested for proceeding with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in obese patients. However, the relationship between obesity severity and early reoperations after TKA is poorly defined. This study evaluated whether increased World Health Organization (WHO) obesity class was associated with risk, severity, and timing of reintervention within one year after TKA.

METHODS

There were 8,674 patients from our institution who had a BMI ≥ 30 and underwent unilateral TKA for primary osteoarthritis between 2016 and 2021. Patients were grouped by WHO obesity class: 4,456 class I (51.5%), 2,527 class II (29.2%), and 1,677 class III (19.4%). A chart review was performed to determine patient characteristics and identify patients who underwent any closed or open reintervention requiring anesthesia within the first postoperative year. Regression analyses were performed to identify variables associated with increased odds ratios (ORs) for requiring a reintervention, its timing, and invasiveness.

RESULTS

There were 158 patients (1.8%) who required at least one reintervention, and 15 patients (0.2%) required at least 2 reinterventions. Reintervention rates for obesity classes I, II, and III were 1.8% (n = 81), 2.0% (n = 51), and 1.4% (n = 23), respectively. There were 65 closed procedures (41.1%), 47 minor procedures (29.7%), 34 open with or without liner exchange (21.5%), and 12 revisions with component exchange (7.6%). Obesity class was not associated with reintervention rate (P = .3), timing (P = .36), or invasiveness (P = .93). Diabetes (odds ratio [OR] = 2.47; P = .008) was associated with a need for reintervention. Non-Caucasian race (OR = 1.7; P = .01) and Charlson comorbidity index (OR = 2.1; P = .008) were associated with earlier reintervention. No factors were associated with the invasiveness of reintervention.

CONCLUSIONS

The WHO obesity class did not associate with rate, timing, or invasiveness of reintervention after TKA in obese patients. These findings suggest that policies that restrict the indication for elective TKA based only on a BMI limit have limited efficacy in reducing early reintervention after TKA in obese patients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

III.

Healthcare disparities: patients' perspectives on barriers to joint replacement

OBJECTIVE

Racial and ethnic disparities in arthroplasty utilization are evident, but the reasons are not known. We aimed to identify concerns that may contribute to barriers to arthroplasty from the patient's perspective.

METHODS

We identified patients' concerns about arthroplasty by performing a mixed methods study. Themes identified during semi-structured interviews with Black and Hispanic patients with advanced symptomatic hip or knee arthritis were used to develop a questionnaire to quantify and prioritize their concerns. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between race/ethnicity and the importance of each theme. Models were adjusted for sex, insurance, education, HOOS, JR/KOOS, JR, and discussion of joint replacement with a doctor.

RESULTS

Interviews with eight participants reached saturation and provided five themes used to develop a survey answered by 738 (24%) participants; 75.5% White, 10.3% Black, 8.7% Hispanic, 3.9% Asian/Other. Responses were significantly different between groups (p < 0.05). Themes identified were "Trust in the surgeon" "Recovery", "Cost/Insurance", "Surgical outcome", and "Personal suitability/timing". Compared to Whites, Blacks were two-fold, Hispanics four-fold more likely to rate "Trust in the surgeon" as very/extremely important. Blacks were almost three times and Hispanics over six times more likely to rate "Recovery" as very/extremely important.

CONCLUSION

We identified factors of importance to patients that may contribute to barriers to arthroplasty, with marked differences between Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites.