RESEARCH ARTICLE
Evaluation of Improvement in Quality of Life and Physical Activity After Total Knee Arthroplasty in Greek Elderly Women
Th Tsonga1, S Kapetanakis*, 2, C Papadopoulos2, J Papathanasiou4, N Mourgias1, N Georgiou1, A Fiska2, K Kazakos3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 343
Last Page: 347
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-5-343
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001105010343
Article History:
Received Date: 27/4/2011Revision Received Date: 22/6/2011
Acceptance Date: 29/6/2011
Electronic publication date: 20/9/2011
Collection year: 2011
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in quality of life of patients after total knee arthroplasty and to assess the changes in physical activity by using a self-reported questionnaire and by counting the number of steps 3-6 months after post-operatively.
Methods:
Included were fifty two elderly women (age 72.6±65.9 years, mean±SD) with knee osteoarthritis undergoing primary knee arthroplasty. Health-related quality of life, physical activity, pain and function and the number of steps were assessed before, 3 and 6 months post-operatively. We used the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36), the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) and the pedometer SW200 Digiwalker of Yamax.
Results:
Patients showed a significant improvement (p< 0.01, η2 =0.22) in health–related quality of life, particularly in physical function, (p<0 .001) body pain (p< 0.001) and vitality scale (p< 0.001) of SF-36 at 3 and 6 months after the procedure. Physical activity (PASE score) increased at 3 and 6 months after arthroplasty (p< 0.001, η2 =0.74), and the number of steps increased 6 months after, compared to the assessment that took place 3 months after operation (p< 0.001).
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that total knee arthroplasty leads to a gradual improvement in quality of life of elderly patients over the first 6 post-operative months.
