The Effect of Total Knee Arthroplasty on Body Mass Index—A Prospective Study

Abstract

Background/Purposes Osteoarthritic patients, who need a total knee arthroplasty, usually complain of knee pain as the major reason to forbid them from exercising to lose weight. Weight gain, in turn, worsens the process of osteoarthritis as a vicious cycle. In our prospective study, we calculated the preoperative and 1-year postoperative body mass index (BMI) after total knee replacement. Materials and Methods We prospectively followed up 91 patients in the knee arthroplasty clinic. Height, preoperative weight, and postoperative weight at 12 months were measured, and the pre- and postoperative BMIs were calculated. All the perioperative factors of the patients were without any major change. Results The mean preoperative BMI was 31.08, and at 12-month followup, the mean BMI was 30.11. This difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion The results obtained in our study suggest that there is no statistically significant difference between the pre- and postoperative BMIs at 1-year follow-up.