The impact of primary total hip and knee replacement on frailty: an observational prospective analysis

Osteoarthritis is a prevalent condition in frail older adults that requires hip or knee replacement in many patients. The aim of the study was to determine the impact of hip and knee arthroplasty on frailty.

In this prospective short-term study, we used data from 101 participants of the ongoing Special Orthopaedic Geriatrics (SOG) trial, funded by the German Federal Joint Committee (GBA). Frailty, measured by Fried's Physical Frailty Phenotype (PFP), was assessed preoperatively, 7 days postoperatively, 4-6 weeks and 3 months after hip and knee arthroplasty. ANOVA with repeated measures and post-hoc tests for the subgroups were used for the statistical analysis.

Of the 101 participants, 50 were pre-frail (1-2 PFP criteria) and 51 were frail (≥ 3 PFP criteria) preoperatively. In the pre-frail group, the PFP score decreased from 1.56 ± 0.50 (median 2) preoperatively to 0.53 ± 0.73 (median 0) 3 months after surgery (p < 0.001). The PFP score in the frail cohort decreased from 3.39 ± 1.45 (median 3) preoperatively to 1.27 ± 1.14 (median 1) 3 months postoperatively (p < 0.001). While the PFP score of the pre-frail participants increased 7 days after surgery, the PFP score of the frail group decreased significantly.

Pre-frail individuals often regain robustness and patients with frailty are no longer assessed as frail after surgery. Joint replacement is an effective intervention to improve frailty in hip and knee osteoarthritis.

This study is part of the Special Orthopaedic Geriatrics (SOG) trial, German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00024102. Registered on 19 January 2021.