Evaluating waiting time effect on health outcomes at admission: a prospective randomized study on patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint.
OBJECTIVE
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 (< or =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.
Hirvonen
Johanna
J
National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Helsinki, Finland. johanna.hirvonen@stakes.fi
Blom
Marja
M
Tuominen
Ulla
U
Seitsalo
Seppo
S
Lehto
Matti
M
Paavolainen
Pekka
P
Hietaniemi
Kalevi
K
Rissanen
Pekka
P
Sintonen
Harri
H
D000368:Aged; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000601:surgery*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010343:Patient Admission; D011788:Quality of Life; D013997:Time Factors; D014850:Waiting Lists