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Published on: March 24, 2023
The rate of unnecessary interventions for the management of knee osteoarthritis: a population-based cohort study
Jacquelyn D Marsh1, Ryan Degen2, Trevor B Birmingham2
1From the Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, Ont. (Marsh, Birmingham); the Bone and Joint Institute, Western University, London, Ont. (Marsh, Birmingham); the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic, London, Ont. (Degen, Giffin, Getgood, Litchfield, Willits); the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Department of Surgery, Division of Orthopaedics, Western University, London, Ont. Giffin, Getgood, Litchfield, Willits); the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) Western, London, Ont. (McClure, Welk); and the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Department of Surgery (Urology) Western University, London, Ont. (Welk) jmarsh2@uwo.ca.
Background:
Several commonly used procedures for knee osteoarthritis (OA) are not supported by evidence-based guidelines. The objective of this study was to identify the proportion of patients who underwent knee arthroscopy or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the timing of these procedures before total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective cohort study using administrative data sets from Ontario, Canada. We identified the proportion of patients who underwent knee arthroscopy in the previous 10 years or an MRI in the 3 years before their primary TKA. We also evaluated the rate of arthroscopies by diagnosis. We report the timing of each outcome in relation to the TKA, rates by geographical area, and differences in rates over time.
Results:
We included 142 275 patients, of whom 36 379 (25.57%) underwent knee arthroscopy (median time 2.8 [interquartile range (IQR) 1.1-6.0] years); 22% of those were within 1 year of TKA and 52% were within 3 years. The rates of arthroscopies for a diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA) steadily decreased, while those for meniscal-related diagnoses increased over the study period (p < 0.0001). There was significant variation by region. Of the cohort, 23.2% (n = 32 989) had an MRI before their TKA, with rates significantly increasing over time (p < 0.0001).
Conclusion:
A substantial proportion of patients with knee OA received diagnostic and therapeutic interventions before TKA that are contrary to clinical practice guidelines.
