Which patients with knee problems are likely to benefit from nonarthroplasty surgery?
Solomon DH; Avorn J; Warsi A; Brown CH; Martin S; Martin TL; Wright J; Burgener M; Katz JN Division of Pharmacoepidemiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02120, USA. dhsolomon@partners.org BACKGROUND: We examined factors associated with the clinical presentation of patients judged likely by orthopedic surgeons to benefit from nonarthroplasty knee surgery. METHODS: Consecutive patients presenting to orthopedic surgeons were eligible for the study and 103 were recruited. A trained research assistant took histories, performed physical examinations, and administered a standardized questionnaire. Surgeons provided diagnoses and, in each case, rated their confidence that nonarthroplasty knee surgery would help the patient. We assessed the relationship between patient characteristics and the orthopedic surgeon’s level of confidence that the patient was likely to benefit from knee surgery. RESULTS: In multivariable logistic regression models, the following c
