We assessed the effect of social deprivation upon the Oxford knee score (OKS), the Short-Form 12 (SF-12) and patient satisfaction after total knee replacement (TKR). An analysis of 966 patients undergoing primary TKR for symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) was performed. Social deprivation was assessed using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Those patients that were most deprived underwent surgery at an earlier age (p = 0.018), were more likely to be female (p = 0.046), to endure more comorbidities (p = 0.04) and to suffer worse pain and function according to the OKS (p < 0.001). In addition, deprivation was also associated with poor mental health (p = 0.002), which was assessed using the mental component (MCS) of the SF-12 score. Multivariable analysis was used to identify independent predictors of outcome at one year. Pre-operative OKS, SF-12 MCS, back pain, and four or more comorbidities were independent predictors of improvement in the OKS (all p < 0.001). Pre-operative OKS and improvement in the OKS were independent predictors of dissatisfaction (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively). Although improvement in the OKS and dissatisfaction after TKR were not significantly associated with social deprivation per se, factors more prevalent within the most deprived groups significantly diminished their improvement in OKS and increased their rate of dissatisfaction following TKR.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2013;95-B:52–8.

We report the ten-year survival of a cemented total knee replacement (TKR) in patients aged < 55 years at the time of surgery, and compare the functional outcome with that of patients aged > 55 years. The data were collected prospectively and analysed using Kaplan-Meier survival statistics, with revision for any reason, or death, as the endpoint. A total of 203 patients aged < 55 years were identified. Four had moved out of the area and were excluded, leaving a total of 221 TKRs in 199 patients for analysis (101 men and 98 women, mean age 50.6 years (28 to 55)); 171 patients had osteoarthritis and 28 had inflammatory arthritis. Four patients required revision and four died. The ten-year survival using revision as the endpoint was 98.2% (95% confidence interval 94.6 to 99.4). Based on the Oxford knee scores at five and ten years, the rate of dissatisfaction was 18% and 21%, respectively. This was no worse in the patients aged < 55 years than in patients aged > 55 years.

These results demonstrate that the cemented PFC Sigma knee has an excellent survival rate in patients aged < 55 ten years post-operatively, with clinical outcomes similar to those of an older group. We conclude that TKR should not be withheld from patients on the basis of age.

We report the general mortality rate after total knee replacement and identify independent predictors of survival. We studied 2428 patients: there were 1127 men (46%) and 1301 (54%) women with a mean age of 69.3 years (28 to 94). Patients were allocated a predicted life expectancy based on their age and gender.

There were 223 deaths during the study period. This represented an overall survivorship of 99% (95% confidence interval (CI) 98 to 99) at one year, 90% (95% CI 89 to 92) at five years, and 84% (95% CI 82 to 86) at ten years. There was no difference in survival by gender. A greater mortality rate was associated with increasing age (p < 0.001), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade (p < 0.001), smoking (p < 0.001), body mass index (BMI) <  20 kg/m² (p < 0.001) and rheumatoid arthritis (p < 0.001). Multivariate modelling confirmed the independent effect of age, ASA grade, BMI, and rheumatoid disease on mortality. Based on the predicted average mortality, 114 patients were predicted to have died, whereas 217 actually died. This resulted in an overall excess standardised mortality ratio of 1.90. Patient mortality after TKR is predicted by their demographics: these could be used to assign an individual mortality risk after surgery.