Outcome of knee arthroplasty in patients aged 65 years or less: a prospective study of 232 patients with 2-year follow-up

Previous studies have reported lower implant survival rates, residual pain, and higher patient dissatisfaction rates following knee arthroplasty in younger knee arthroplasty patients. We aimed to assess the real-world effectiveness of knee arthroplasty in a prospective non-selected cohort of patients aged 65 years or less with 2-year follow-up.

In total, 250 patients (272 knees) aged 65 years or less were enrolled into this prospective cohort study. Patient-reported outcome measures were used to assess the outcome.

The mean Oxford Knee Score and all Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score subscales increased significantly (p < 0.001) from preoperative situation to the 2-year follow-up. Significant increase (p < 0.001) in physical activity was detected in High-Activity Arthroplasty Score and RAND-36 Physical Component Score (PCS). Pain was also significantly (p < 0.001) relieved during the follow-up. Total disappearance of pain was rare at 2 years. Patients with milder (Kellgren–Lawrence grade 2) osteoarthritis were less satisfied and reported poorer patient-reported outcome measure than those with advanced osteoarthritis (Kellgren–Lawrence grade 3–4). There was no difference in the outcome (any patient-reported outcome measure) between patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty and those who received unicondylar knee arthroplasty.

We found that measured with a wide set of patient-reported outcome measures, both total knee arthroplasty and unicondylar knee arthroplasty resulted in significant pain relief, as well as improvement in physical performance and quality of life in patients aged 65 years or less. Real-world effectiveness of these procedures seems to be excellent. 15% of patients still had residual symptoms and were dissatisfied with the outcome at 2 years after the operation.