Annual Trends in Knee and Hip Arthroplasty in Rheumatoid Arthritis 1998–2007

Abstract

ObjectiveTo determine the annual number and trend of prostheses implanted in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at our hospital during the past decade. Materials and methodsRetrospective observational study. Patients were collected through an extensive search of the database of the Clinical Documentation Service between 1998 and 2007. The data were extracted from medical records using a predesigned questionnaire. Statistical analysis of longitudinal prostheses was made using Cochrane's Q test and the Kaplan–Meier method. ResultsSixty-one RA patients were operated on with 78 prostheses as a direct result of their disease at our hospital between 1998 and 2007. Most were women (80%) with positive rheumatoid factor (84%). The mean age was 58 years, and the average time since onset of RA was 13 years. All but one had previously received antirheumatic drugs (88% methotrexate), but only 11% had biological therapy. No changes were observed in the number of arthroplasties as a whole over a decade, although there was a trend toward reduction in the number of patients that required a knee replacement for the first time (Cochrane Q, P=.05). ConclusionWe observed no significant changes in trends in the number of new joint replacement procedures as a whole in the past decade at our hospital, although the number of patients who required knee replacement for the first time as a direct result of their underlying disease seems to have declined in the last decade.