The impact of health status on waiting time for major joint arthroplasty

This study was conducted to determine the impact of health status on waitin g time for major joint arthroplasty in a universal publicly funded health s ystem. Data were collected prospectively from a cohort of 553 patients wait ing for total hip or total knee arthroplasty. The WOMAC and SF-36 health st atus instruments were administered at the time the patient was placed on th e waiting list. The outcome measure was length of waiting time. Multivariat e analyses found increased body mass index and decreased social function as the only determinants of waiting time. This model explained only 4% of the variance in waiting time. The association between health status and waitin g time for arthroplasties appears to be small. These findings suggest that major joint arthroplasty is not prioritized on the basis of burden of illne ss.