Defining the Patient Acceptable Symptom State for the HOOS JR and KOOS JR After Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: It is essential to quantify an acceptable outcome after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) in order to understand quality of care. The purpose of this study was to define patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) thresholds for the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Joint Replacement (KOOS JR) and the Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Joint Replacement (HOOS JR) after TJA. METHODS: A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, leveraging 2-year satisfaction of "moderate improvement" or better as the anchor, was used to establish PASS thresholds among 5,216 patients who underwent primary total hip arthroplasty and 4,036 who underwent primary total knee arthroplasty from 2007 to 2012 with use of an institutional registry. Changes in PASS thresholds were explored by stratifying and recalculating these thresholds by age at the time of surgery (<70 or ≥70 years of age), sex (men or women), body mass index (BMI; <30 or ≥30 kg/m2), and baseline Short Form-36 (SF-36) physical and mental component scores (<50 or ≥50). RESULTS: The HOOS JR PASS threshold was 76.7 (area under the ROC curve [AUC] = 0.91), which was achieved by 4,334 patients (83.1%). The KOOS JR PASS threshold was 63.7 (AUC = 0.89), which was achieved by 3,461 patients (85.8%). Covariate stratification demonstrated that PASS thresholds were higher in men compared with women, and in those with higher preoperative SF-36 physical and mental scores (≥50) compared with lower SF-36 scores (<50). Results differed between instruments for BMI and age: higher BMI was associated with a lower PASS threshold for the HOOS JR but a higher PASS threshold for the KOOS JR. The HOOS JR PASS threshold was higher in patients who were <70 years of age compared with those who were ≥70 years of age, but was equivalent for the KOOS JR. CONCLUSIONS: The PASS thresholds for the HOOS JR and KOOS JR at 2 years after TJA were 76.7 and 63.7, respectively. The PASS thresholds were associated with certain preoperative covariates, suggesting that an acceptable symptom state after TJA is influenced by patient-specific factors. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.