The COVID-19 induced joint replacement deficit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Authors
Reed, Mike
Issue Date
2021
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Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted health, economies and the functioning of societies globally. In addition to direct health effects, it has indirectly impacted population health by limiting access to non-COVID treatments, including joint replacements. The pandemic has necessitated re-organisation of healthcare with the private-sector providing support to public hospitals in some areas. The full impact is therefore difficult to ascertain from public data sources alone.
Methods: We used a mandatory prospective national register of private and publicly funded hip, knee, shoulder, elbow and ankle replacements in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Descriptive analysis of the provision of joint replacement comparing data from 2019 to 2020 and predicted deficit recovery.
Findings: There was a substantial deficit in the provision of joint replacement in 2020 compared to 2019 with 106,922 (48.8%) fewer procedures performed; resulting in 45,116 (44%) fewer hip replacements, 57,115 (52%) fewer knee replacements, 3,878 (50%) fewer shoulder replacements, 280 (33%) fewer elbow replacements and 533 (53%) fewer ankle replacements performed. Wales and Northern Ireland were disproportionately affected with an overall reduction of 8,001 (67%) and 2,833 (64%) respectively compared to 96,088 (47%) in England.
An immediate 5% expansion in provision from the 2019 baseline will eliminate the deficit over approximately 10 years (by 2031), whilst a 10% expansion will address the deficit by 2026.
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Citation
Sayers, A.E., Deere, K.C., Lenguerrand, E. et al. (2021) The COVID-19 induced joint replacement deficit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The National Joint Registry 18th Annual Report 2021 [Internet]. London: National Joint Registry; 2021 Sep. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK576854/
Publisher
PLoS Medicine
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1549-1676