Patients who undergo total knee arthroplasty (TKA), overall, experience improved outcomes, but patients aged 75 and older achieve better pain relief and improved QOL compared with patients younger than 55, according to a study presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. David Christopher Ayers, MD, and colleagues conducted a prospective, multicenter study involving 11,602 patients with unilateral primary TKA to examine whether outcomes vary according to patient age. Patients were stratified by age (younger than 55 [younger adult], 55-64 [older adult], 65-74 [early elder], and 75 and older [late elder]). Younger adults reported slightly worse pain, function, and QOL but better function scores than late elder patients at 1 year after TKA. The differences in the mean 1-year postoperative scores among the four age groups (range, 4.02-12.23) reached the minimal clinically important difference for pain and QOL, but not for function. Pain, function, and QOL score improvements from baseline achieved by younger adults (36.8, 30.3, and 40.7 points, respectively) were comparable to those of other groups.
