Outcomes after hip or knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis. A prospective cohort study comparing patients' quality of life before and after surgery with age-related population norms.

OBJECTIVE To compare the health-related quality of life of people with osteoarthritis before and after primary total hip and knee replacement surgery with that of the general Australian population. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. SETTING Three Sydney hospitals, public and private. PARTICIPANTS Patients with osteoarthritis undergoing primary total hip (n = 59) and knee (n = 92) joint replacement surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36) scores before and 12 months after joint replacement surgery (compared with population norms). RESULTS Patients in each age group showed a significant improvement in health-related quality of life after joint replacement surgery in most scales of the SF-36, particularly physical function, role physical and bodily pain. SF-36 scores for the 42 hip-replacement patients aged 55-74 years improved to equal or exceed the population norm on all scales. SF-36 scores of the 52 knee replacement patients aged 55-74 years improved, but physical function and bodily pain scores remained significantly worse than the population norm. SF-36 scores for both hip (n = 17) and knee (n = 40) replacement patients aged 75 years and over improved significantly, becoming similar to population norms for this age group. CONCLUSIONS Total hip or knee replacement for osteoarthritis significantly improves patient health and well-being at 12 months after surgery. Age alone should not be a barrier to surgery.