Quality of life after total knee arthroplasty: systematic review

Objective To review the literature on quality of life among patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and assess the impact of various associated factors. Methods this was a systematic review of the literature in the Medline, Embase, Lilacs and SciELO databases, using the terms: TKA (total knee arthroplasty); TKR (total knee replacement); quality of life; and outcomes. There were no restrictions regarding study design. Results 31 articles addressing this topic using various quality-of-life evaluation protocols were selected. SF-36/SF-12, WOMAC and Oxford were the ones most frequently used. The studies made it possible to define that TKA is capable of making an overall improvement in patients’ quality of life. Pain and function are among the most important predictors of improvement in quality of life, even when function remains inferior to that of healthy patients. Conclusion The factors associated negatively were obesity, advanced age, comorbidities, persistence of pain after the procedure and a lengthy wait for surgery.