Patient-reported factors determining long-term follow-up after total knee arthroplasty in individuals with knee osteoarthritis visiting a tertiary care hospital.

Purpose: Postoperative follow-up after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA) is essential for patients, surgeons, and rehabilitation specialists to monitor patient prognosis. Loss to follow-up is a common problem noted following surgery, and many factors influence follow-up. Objective: The objective of this study was to report patient-reported factors determining long-term follow-up after TKA in individuals with knee OA visiting a tertiary care hospital. Methods: Patients who underwent TKA from January 2021 to December 2022 at a tertiary care hospital in South India were contacted via telephone. Demographic details, follow-up history, reasons for loss to follow-up to the hospital, patient satisfaction, pain, patient-reported function, and quality of life (QoL) were noted. Results: Among the patients, 26.8 % returned for long-term follow-up, whereas 73.2 % were lost to follow-up after TKA. A list of patient-reported factors determining long-term follow-up following TKA was noted. Overall, 81.8 % of patients reported satisfaction following surgery, whereas 18.2 % expressed dissatisfaction. The mean postoperative scores on the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS), lower extremity functional scale (LEFS) score, knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS), and short form-36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaire were noted. Conclusion: A range of patient-reported factors, such as the absence of symptoms, longer wait times in the hospital, increased travel distance to the hospital, the absence of caregivers, financial constraints, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other unspecified reasons were noted as reasons, for loss to follow-up following TKA.