Important Patient Factors When Deciding on Joint Replacement

During the 2017 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual Congress, CreakyJoints^®, the online patient support group, and RAND Corporation reported results from a study that examined the decisions that are most important to patients when undergoing hip or knee replacement (arthroplasty) and the factors they view as important in making those decisions.

Forty-nine U.S. participants were recruited from the ArthritisPower research registry and CreakyJoints to participate in structured one-hour discussions held via webinar during January to April 2016.

Patients described decisions that were most important to them when considering arthroplasty and the factors they used to make those decisions. The transcribed discussions were then evaluated to identify themes. The analysis revealed that there are eight decisions influenced by at least 10 different factors.

The most important decisions involved whether to have surgery, selection of surgery date, surgeon, facility, implant device, and ancillary health care professionals (HCPs) and services.

Patients' current situation and health status and their expectations of surgery were most commonly used to make decisions about whether and when to have surgery. Patients' trust of and communication with doctors was the most commonly cited factor used when deciding on an arthroplasty surgeon.

This study informs future research by identifying and prioritizing topics that matter most to patients and the information that patients currently use to make joint replacement decisions.

More reports from EULAR 2017