Preoperative Expectations Associated With Postoperative Dissatisfaction After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Cohort Study

Unfulfilled expectations, assessed postoperatively, have been consistently associated with dissatisfaction after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, identifying these expectations preoperatively has been a challenge. We aimed at identifying specific expectations that are most likely to affect postoperative dissatisfaction.

We included all patients in our institutional registry with a body mass index of <40 kg/m who underwent primary unilateral TKA and had a minimum 2-year follow-up. Preoperatively, patients completed the 19-item Hospital for Special Surgery Expectations Survey, Short Form-12, Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score and EuroQol 5-D. Two years postoperatively, patients reported their dissatisfaction on five domains. We estimated logistic regression models to identify the expectation items associated with each domain.

A total of 2,279 TKA patients (mean age: 65.3 ± 9.2 years; mean body mass index: 30.2 ± 5.9 kg/m) met our inclusion/exclusion criteria. The association between expectations and dissatisfaction was domain specific, that is, subsets of 4 to 5 items were markedly associated with each dissatisfaction domain, and these expectations differed depending on the dissatisfaction domain examined. Of those, expectations predicting dissatisfaction on multiple domains included kneeling ability and leg straightening and participation in recreation and sports.

We identified a subset of expectations most likely to affect dissatisfaction after TKA. Our findings should inform preoperative patient education approaches on those expectations to realistically orient patient expectations and increase satisfaction.

Level II.