title: How are those "lost to follow-up" patients really doing? A compliance comparison in arthroplasty patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether there is a functional difference between patients who actively follow-up in the office (OFU) and those who are non-compliant with office follow-up visits (NFU).
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed a consecutive group of 588 patients, who had undergone total joint arthroplasty (TJA), for compliance and functional outcomes at one to two years post-operatively. All patients were given verbal instructions by the primary surgeon to return at one year for routine follow-up visits. Patients that were compliant with the instructions at one year were placed in the OFU cohort, while those who were non-compliant were placed in the NFU cohort. Survey mailings and telephone interviews were utilized to obtain complete follow-up for the cohort. A χ(2) test and an unpaired t test were used for comparison of baseline characteristics. Analysis of covariance was used to compare the mean clinical outcomes after controlling for confounding variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Complete follow-up data was collected on 554 of the 588 total patients (93%), with 75.5% of patients assigned to the OFU cohort and 24.5% assigned to the NFU cohort. We found significant differences between the cohorts with the OFU group having a higher mean age (P = 0.026) and a greater proportion of females (P = 0.041). No significant differences were found in either the SF12 or WOMAC scores at baseline or at 12 mo postoperative.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients who are compliant to routine follow-up visits at one to two years post-operation do not experience better patient reported outcomes than those that are non-compliant. Additionally, after TJA, older women are more likely to be compliant in following surgeon instructions with regard to follow-up office care.
authors.affiliation: Jung Keun Choi, Jeffrey A Geller, David A Patrick Jr, Wenbao Wang, William Macaulay, Center for Hip and Knee Replacement, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Jung Keun
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Jung Keun Choi, Jeffrey A Geller, David A Patrick Jr, Wenbao Wang, William Macaulay, Center for Hip and Knee Replacement, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.affiliation: Jung Keun Choi, Jeffrey A Geller, David A Patrick Jr, Wenbao Wang, William Macaulay, Center for Hip and Knee Replacement, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.affiliation: Jung Keun Choi, Jeffrey A Geller, David A Patrick Jr, Wenbao Wang, William Macaulay, Center for Hip and Knee Replacement, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Wenbao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jung Keun Choi, Jeffrey A Geller, David A Patrick Jr, Wenbao Wang, William Macaulay, Center for Hip and Knee Replacement, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Macaulay
keywords: Functional outcomes; Patient compliance; Patient follow-up; Revision joint arthroplasty; Total joint arthroplasty