Hip Replacement Success Rate

 Total hip replacement dramatically reduces pain and improves function in most people with severe joint damage from osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other causes. Researchers analyzed data from 6,168 patients getting their first (or primary) total hip replacement and 2,063 getting revision surgery between 1993 and 2005. What they found is helpful for patients to review when considering hip replacement.  

“If your pain went from severe to moderate or moderate to mild, I don’t think there’s any question that you will perceive that as meaningful,” says lead author Jasvinder Singh, MD, an associate professor of medicine in the division of clinical immunology and rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.   

“I think people already have faith in the surgery,” Dr. Singh says. “But perhaps they can use this information to have conversations with their surgeons to make the best decisions for themselves when taking into account risks and benefits.” 

Pain Before and After Hip Surgery  

• 90%  - Of patients who had moderate pain before their first surgery reported mild or no pain after five years.  
• 89%  - Of patients with severe pain before their first surgery reported mild or no pain after five years.  
• 80%  - Of those in moderate pain before revision hip surgery reported mild or no pain after five years. 
• 78%  - Of those with severe pain before revision hip surgery reported mild or no pain after five years. 
   

Limitations After Hip Surgery  

Some patients still have limitations after total hip surgery in activities like walking, climbing steps and getting in and out of a car. Seven percent of patients with moderate limitations and 20% with severe limitations before their first surgery still had severe limitations after five years. Among those having revision surgery, 13% who had moderate limitations and 30% with severe limitations reported severe limitations after five years – so 70% were doing well.