Evaluating waiting time effect on health outcomes at admission: a prospective randomized study on patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2753.2006.00745.x

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Wiley InterScience

Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice

Volume 13 Issue 5, Pages 728 - 733

Published Online: 12 Jun 2007

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Evaluating waiting time effect on health outcomes at admission: a prospective randomized study on patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint

Johanna Hirvonen PhD Candidate, ¹ Marja Blom PhD, ² Ulla Tuominen PhD Candidate, ¹ Seppo Seitsalo MD PhD, ³ Matti Lehto MD PhD, ⁴ Pekka Paavolainen MD PhD, ⁵ Kalevi Hietaniemi MD, ⁶ Pekka Rissanen PhD ⁷ and Harri Sintonen PhD ⁸

¹ Researcher, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Helsinki, Finland
² Senior Fellow, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Academy of Finland, HUCH, Jorvi Hospital, Espoo, Finland
³ Professor, Chief Orthopaedic Surgeon, ORTON Orthopaedic Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
⁴ Chief Executive Officer, Medical Director, Coxa Hospital for Joint Replacement, Medical Research Fund of Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
⁵ Professor, Orthopaedic Surgeon, ORTON Orthopaedic Hospital, HUCH, Surgical Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
⁶ Orthopaedic Surgeon, HUCH, Jorvi Hospital, Espoo, Finland
⁷ Professor, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland ⁸ Professor, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Correspondence to Johanna Hirvonen
National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health
PO Box 220
Fin-00531 Helsinki
Finland
E-mail: johanna.hirvonen@stakes.fi

KEYWORDS

quality of life • randomized controlled trial • total knee replacement • waiting time

Abstract

Aims To evaluate the effect of waiting on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), pain and physical function in patients awaiting primary total knee replacement (TKR) due to osteoarthritis.

Methods Some 438 patients awaiting TKR were randomized to a short waiting time (WT) group (≤3 months) or a non-fixed WT group. In the final assessment, 310 patients (213 women) with a mean age of 68 years were included. HRQoL was measured on being placed on the waiting list and again at hospital admission using the generic 15D. Patients' self-report pain and physical function were evaluated using a scale modified from the Knee Society Clinical Rating System.

Results The median WTs for patients with short and non-fixed WT were 73 days (range 8–600 days) and 266 days (range 28–818 days), respectively. At admission, as assessed by the intention-to-treat analysis, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in the 15D total score and disease-specific pain and function.

Conclusions Our study showed that longer WT did not result in worse pre-operative HRQoL.

Accepted for publication: 18 May 2006

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1365-2753.2006.00745.x About DOI