title: Evaluating waiting time effect on health outcomes at admission: a prospective randomized study on patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Helsinki, Finland. johanna.hirvonen@stakes.fi
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hirvonen
authors.forename: Marja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blom
authors.forename: Ulla
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Tuominen
authors.forename: Seppo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seitsalo
authors.forename: Matti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lehto
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paavolainen
authors.forename: Kalevi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hietaniemi
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rissanen
authors.forename: Harri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sintonen
mesh_terms: 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