Total hip arthroplasty, associated rehabilitation care and the COVID-19 pandemic in France.

Abstract

This study investigates the Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) activity and the associated rehabilitation care in France over the period 2013-2022, with particular attention to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, scheduled THA activity was 17% lower than predicted based on the 2013-2019 trend (-19,000 THAs). In 2022, this activity was close to the pre-2019 trend, but there has been no catch-up of scheduled THAs that did not occur in 2020 and 2021. There is no obvious explanation for this absence of catch-up. In addition, in 2020, THA activity for recent trauma was only 3.1% lower than predicted based on the 2013-2019 trend. Activity in 2022 shows a return to the pre-2019 trend, without any catch-up effect, as would be expected in such a case. Finally, the proportion of scheduled THAs followed by an associated rehabilitation stay declined sharply in 2020 (-4 percentage points compared to 2019) whereas the downward trend in this proportion had previously been much slower (-10 percentage points from 2013 to 2019). These results underscore the major effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical activity, though further investigation is needed to fully understand the long-term effects on patients' health and life expectancy.