AAOS: Spouses of Patients Undergoing Joint Replacement See Their Own Lives Improve

THURSDAY, March 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Spouses of patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty see a significant improvement in their own quality of life, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, held from March 10 to 14 in San Diego.

Nicolas Jozefowski, from Loyola University in Chicago, and colleagues examined quality-of-life changes among the spouses of patients who have undergone total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The analysis included 100 spouses.

With 1 being significantly worse and 5 being significantly better quality of life, the researchers found that at an average follow-up of two years, the THA group spouses had a mean quality of life of 4.1 and the TKA group had a mean of 4. Means were even higher when spouses were asked to rate their own opinion of the patient’s improvement of their quality of life (means were 4.7 and 4.3 for the THA and TKA groups, respectively). Over time, spousal assistance of daily activities decreased, with means for the THA group of 2.6, 2.7, and 1.4 (1 = never and 5 = always at preoperative, one to two weeks postoperative, and at least one year postoperative, respectively). Means for the TKA group were 2, 3.7, and 1.8.

“These results show that THA and TKA improves the lives of not only the patients but also their caregivers,” the authors write.

Press Release

More Information