Have the annual trends of total hip arthroplasty in rheumatoid arthritis patients decreased?

backgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by chronic systemic and synovial inflammation, resulting in damage to both cartilage and bone. Medical treatment, which has increasingly relied upon disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), may fail to slow disease progression and limit joint damage, ultimately warranting surgical intervention. Up to 25% of RA patients will require lower extremity total joint arthroplasty. Though total hip arthroplasty (THA) is known to improve quality of life and functional measures, clarification is still required with respect to the impact of increased DMARD use on annual rates of THA. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate: (I) the annual trends of THAs due to RA in the United States population; (II) the annual trends in the proportion of THAs due to RA in the United States.

methodsThis study utilized the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) to identify all patients who underwent THA between 2002 and 2013 (n=3,135,904). Then, THA patients who had a diagnosis of RA, which was defined by the International Classification of Disease 9

resultsReview of the database identified 90,487 patients who had a diagnosis of RA and underwent THA from 2002 to 2013. The annual prevalence of RA in those who underwent THA slightly decreased over the specified time period, with 28.7 per 1,000 THAs in 2002 and 28.6 per 1,000 THAs in 2013; however, this change was not statistically significant (R

conclusionsThe annual rates of THA among RA patients did not show any significant change between 2002 and 2013. DMARD use has decreased both disease progression and joint destruction, and DMARDs are now often utilized as primary treatment. The increase in population of the country during the study period may have overestimated THA trends. Moreover, patients may be more likely to opt for surgical management, given the advances in operative techniques as well as peri- and post-operative course.