Racial, Ethnic, and Geographic Disparities in Rates of Knee Arthroplasty

To the Editor: Skinner et al. (Oct. 2 issue)¹ report that the rates of total knee arthroplasty in Manhattan are significantly greater among Hispanic women than among non-Hispanic white women. These data corroborate those we have reported for New York City² and have confirmed for California (unpublished data). However, we urge caution in the use of Medicare data to assess or define disparities in the rates of total knee arthroplasty or total hip arthroplasty. In New York City, the age distributions among patients who undergo these procedures differ significantly according to race and ethnic group (Table 1).