Some suffer hip replacement angst

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A Swedish researcher suggests at least 5 percent of hip replacement patients reported no improvement.

Ola Rolfson of the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, in Sweden also found patients who suffer from anxiety and depression before the operation were more likely to report worse results after a hip replacement.

"Although the majority report a considerable improvement in their health-related quality of life and are pain-free after their hip replacement, we show that around 5 percent to 10 percent do not improve or have actually deteriorated one year after the operation," Rolfson said in a statement.

His thesis also suggested a year-long wait for the operation also entails significant costs to both society and the individual. The monthly cost of higher consumption of resources while waiting was calculated to be about $500 per month.

"Doing the right thing, doing the thing right and doing it at the right time is the major challenge facing orthopaedics in the future," Rolfson says.

Rolfson and colleagues examined 40,000 responses from patients selected from the Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Register.