TY - JOUR T1 - Disparities in Outcomes for African Americans and Whites Undergoing Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Systematic Literature Review JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.150950 SP - jrheum.150950 AU - Susan M. Goodman AU - Michael L. Parks AU - Kelly McHugh AU - Kara Fields AU - Rie Smethurst AU - Mark P. Figgie AU - Anne R. Bass Y1 - 2016/02/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2016/01/26/jrheum.150950.abstract N2 - Objective African Americans in the United States undergo total knee arthroplasty (TKA) less often than whites, in part because of lower expectations among African Americans for successful surgery. Whether this lower expectation is justified is unknown. Our objective is to compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and satisfaction after TKA between African Americans and whites. Methods A systematic review of English language articles using Medline, the Cochrane register, Embase (April 21, 2015), and a hand search of unlisted disparities journals was performed. Search terms included total knee replacement, quality of life, outcomes, and satisfaction. High-quality cohort studies that examined HRQOL in African Americans and white adults 6 months or more after TKA were included. Results Of the 4781 studies screened by title, and 346 by abstract, 7 studies included race in their analysis. Results included 5570 TKA patients, 4077 whites (89%), and 482 (11%) blacks. Because studies used different outcome measures and were inconsistent in their adjustment for confounders, we could not perform a quantitative synthesis of results. In 5 studies, US blacks had worse pain, in 5 worse function, and in 1 less satisfaction 6 months to 2 years after TKA. Conclusion US blacks may derive less benefit from TKA than whites as measured by HRQOL, pain, function, and satisfaction. Many studies assessing predictors of patient-related TKA outcomes fail to analyze race as a variable, which limited our study. More studies assessing the effect of race and socioeconomic factors on TKA outcome are needed. ER -