Ortopedia, traumatologia, rehabilitacja
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Ortop Traumatol Rehabil · Nov 2008
Comparative StudyCost analysis and sociomedical aspects of the conservative and surgical treatment of hip osteoarthritis.
Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of pain, physical disability and marked impairment of patients' physical fitness and mobility. Insufficient funding for health care contributes to prolonged waiting times for total hip replacement (THR) surgery, which has been proven to be the only effective treatment for OA. Average waiting time in Poland is estimated at 2-2.5 years. Objective. To carry out a retrospective comparative analysis of the cost of THR surgery vs. conservative treatment for OA in a variety of sociomedical aspects while patients are awaiting THR. ⋯ Pharmacological treatment, rehabilitation, physical therapy and other methods appear to be inefficient in patients with hip OA awaiting THR and their costs are twice as high. Additionally, NSAID drugs produce GI ulcers in 25% of the patients. Psychosocial problems are also common for these patients. Surgical treatment produces a radical improvement of the quality of life and ameliorates psychosocial problems. Therefore, hip OA costs can only be reduced by shorter waiting times, which can be accomplished through an increase in funding resulting in wider access to the procedure.