Influence of depression on functional outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis undergone unicompartmental knee arthroplasty or total knee arthroplasty: A prospective study

Background. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and unilateral knee arthroplasty (UKA) are often the treatment of choice for knee osteoarthritis. Approximately 20% of patients affected by osteoarthritis suffer from depressive symptoms.Objective. The present study aims to evaluate the influence of depression on functional outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis undergone UKA and TKA.Methods. Depression was assessed using the preoperative Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), on postoperative outcomes of TKA and UKA measured using Forgotten Joint Score-12 (FJS-12), Short Form Health Survey-36 (SF-36), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC), Oxford Knee Score (OKS), and Barthel Index.Results. A total of 90 patients (47 UKA, 43 TKA) met inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the present study. Correlation between preoperative GDS score and postoperative outcome measures revealed a low-moderate correlation with WOMAC Functional limitations (rho = 0.239, p = 0.046) at 6-month follow-up. Patients that underwent UKA with a higher GDS score preoperatively were found to have a higher WOMAC functional limitations score postoperatively. Other statistically significant correlations between preoperative GDA and postoperative outcome scores following UKA and TKA were not found.Conclusion. Taken together, findings of our study suggested that more literature is needed to fully elucidate the influence of psychological factors such as depression and depressive symptoms on postoperative outcomes of UKA and TKA. Understanding such correlations is potentially beneficial in the development of preoperative and postoperative treatment programs that deal with psychosocial components of illness.