Elderly patients see excellent long-term benefits from joint replacement surgery, according to BIDMC researchers

Many elderly patients do well after joint replacement surgery with excellent long-term benefits, making the initial, painful weeks of recovery worthwhile, according to a new study by researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The study, published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, is limited because it was not a randomized controlled trial – the 174 patients were chosen because they were over 65 and suffered from severe osteoarthritis, and 29 percent later chose to have joint replacement surgery. But it confirms existing research showing surgery’s long-term benefits.

Those that chose surgery, said co-author Dr. Mary Beth Hamel, faired better in the long run than those who did not. “We found that the outcome for the patients who went through and had the joint replacement was much better in terms of pain relief and joint function,” she said. Even those patients over age 75 experienced greater positive outcomes than their peers who did not have surgery.

Researchers also found that many of those patients who did not have surgery were not offered the choice by doctors. “The question is had there been more enthusiasm among the doctors would the patients have had the surgery?” she said.