[Foreign-born report more problems after total hip arthroplasty than Swedish-born. Unclear why, but better informed...

In 2013, 23.3% of the Swedish population of 9.7 million had foreign background and 15.4% were born outside the country. Immigrants, just as natives, suffer or will suffer from hip disease, which could involve surgery with total hip arthroplasty. Our aim was to explore the association between birthplace (in or outside Sweden), socio-economic factors and outcome after primary total hip arthroplasty. Records from the Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Register were cross-matched with population-based registers from the National Board of Health and Welfare and Statistics Sweden.  Preoperatively immigrants reported more problems with self-care (P≤0.02), usual activities (P≤0.05) and anxiety/depression (P≤0.005) as well as higher levels of pain. Postoperatively immigrants reported more problems in all EQ-5D dimensions. Improved patient information, better training of medical staff and better access to interpreters could facilitate these patients' contacts with health care and also contribute to improved outcome.