Researchers in the United Kingdom found black patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty were more likely to have poor preoperative functional scores — but added these patients display similar 12-month postoperative results to other ethnic groups.
Uthman Alao presented his team’s findings at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012 in Berlin.
“We wanted to see whether or not our data matched what has been found in other countries, like the United States, where there has been a difference in the prevalence of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) as well as Oxford Knee Score (OKS) among the different ethnic groups,” he said.
Alao and his team prospectively collected data on 221 consecutive patients who underwent TKA, for a total of 262 knees. The OKS for each patient was recorded preoperatively and at the 6-week, 6-month and 12-month postoperative marks, and the patients’ clinical notes were used to obtain ethnic data.
According to the study abstract, the team found a mean preoperative OKS of 18 across all ethnic groups, with a mean postoperative OKS of 37.
Alao reported significant differences between preoperative functional scores of the black and white ethnic groups (14.9 vs. 18.6, respectively), but noted that at the 12-month mark the reported functional outcomes were not significantly different between the two groups (37.91 vs. 37.85, respectively).
“In spite of the black patients presenting with a lower score — often presenting when the disease was more severe — they actually ended up with a good score postoperatively,” he said. “This is in contrast to the data, for example, from the United States, where patients who would generally tend to present with lower scores initially end up doing worse after the operation.”
The results, according to the study abstract, indicate black ethnic groups look into help for their symptoms later than other groups, when greater disability has occurred.
Reference:
- Alao U, Pennington R, Lee TS, et al. The difference in prevalence and outcome of total knee arthroplasty between ethnic groups. Paper #5515. Presented at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012. May 23-25. Berlin.
- Disclosure: Alao has no relevant financial disclosures.
