Obesity may impair the early outcome of total knee arthroplasty

Background and Aims: Obesity has been linked to the development of osteoarthritis of the knee and increases the probability to fall into total knee arthroplasty. In this study we compared short-term outcome of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in non-obese and obese patients.

Material and Methods: A total of 100 patients underwent TKA between October 2006 and March 2007. They were divided into two groups based on the body mass index: 52 of the patients were obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and 48 non-obese (BMI <30 kg/m2). The short-term outcome was studied using clinical, functional and radiological analysis. The mean of the follow-up period was 3 months.

Results: There were five complications (2 wound infections, phlebitis, nerve injury and massive edema) in obese patients group compared with no complications in non-obese (p=0.028). The obese patients had also worse postoperative range of motion (110º vs.118º, p=0.001) than non-obese and the number of technical errors was 17 in obese and 5 in non-obese group, respectively (p = 0.007).

Conclusions: We suggest that obesity may impair the early outcome of total knee arthroplasty and obese patients should be informed about the increased risk of complications related to TKA.