Cluster analysis of physical functioning following knee surgery

Knee arthroplasty (KA) is an effective procedure to mitigate the debilitating impact of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Projections of a growing prevalence of OA, growing utilization of KA surgery, and a shift in the demographics of the target patient group call for a better understanding of how patients respond to KA surgery, and how this impacts their return to the workplace. Using data collected through the ACTIVE trial, we plan to use cluster analysis to map patients’ trajectories of PROMIS-Physical Function t-scores following total- and unicompartmental KA surgery. We will additionally interview clinical experts to establish substantive interpretation of the resultant clusters in a robust and reproducible manner, and we will investigate the relationship between these clusters and days until full return to work (RTW) using Cox regression analysis. Lastly, we'll identify factors associated with cluster membership using multinomial logistic regression. The resultant recovery "roadmaps" may aid shard decision making between patient and doctors or help clinicians identify poor responders prior to surgery taking place.