The Effect of Age on Pain, Function, and Quality of Life After Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty

Abstract

With increasing life expectancy and elective surgery improving quality of life, age alone is not a factor that affects the outcome of joint arthroplasty and should not be a limiting factor when considering who should receive this surgery.

Total Knee Arthroplasty in the Elderly: Does Age Affect Pain, Function or Complications?

“…We compared postoperative pain, KSS, KSFS, and satisfaction and complication rates between patients 80 years or older and a younger cohort who underwent TKAs. Currently, these outcomes are uncertain in the literature owing to small sample sizes [4,20], limited followup [12,16,20], and the absence of comparator groups [2,11,13]. We therefore determined whether increasing age adversely affects postoperative (1) pain level, (2) KSS and KSFS, and (3) complication rate.…”

“…An appreciation of key outcomes such as postoperative pain and function beyond this initial period is crucial, however, and in particular how they compare with outcomes of a younger patient cohort so that we can understand any differences between these groups. In addition, reporting of complication rates is highly variable [12,16,26]. In part, this can be attributed to varying methods of complication recording among authors [21], small samples sizes [4,20], limited followup [12,16,20], and the absence of a comparator group [2,11,13].…”

The Impact of Gender, Age, and Preoperative Pain Severity on Pain After TKA

“…The current literature provides contradictory conclusions as to whether gender influences the outcomes of TKA [3,7,9,11,14]. We therefore asked whether gender, age, and preoperative pain are associated with the prevalence of moderate-severe pain after knee arthroplasty.…”

“…In three small prospective studies of under 300 patients each, neither age nor gender was associated with any difference in prevalence of substantial pain up to 6 months [9] or up to 12 months [3] or with higher WOMAC pain at 6 months post-TKA [7]. On the contrary, a multinational randomized study of 860 TKA patients reported worse pain in women on the WOMAC pain scale at 1 and 2 years post-TKA, but no age differences [11].…”

“…While some studies report better outcomes in older patients [5,6], others have reported similar outcomes in all age groups [3,7,9,18]. In a community-based study of 257 patients undergoing TKA, age was not a determinant of WOMAC pain scores at 6 months after TKA [9]. Another study reported older patients have better outcomes [12].…”