TITLE:
Health-Related Quality of Life Post Total Knee Arthroplasty among Patients Treated at Muhimbili Orthopedics Institute (MOI), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
AUTHORS:
Zabron C. Saguda, Kitugi S. Nungu, Sadock P. Mathias
KEYWORDS:
Health-Related Quality of Life, Patient-Reported Outcomes, Total Knee Arthroplasty, Muhimbili Orthopedics Institute, WOMAC, SF-36
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Orthopedics,
Vol.16 No.2,
February
11,
2026
ABSTRACT: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes post total knee replacement (TKA) is measured using a broad array of dimensions and is influenced by socio-demographic characteristics as well as medical co-morbidities. Despite substantial advances in TKA patient selection, surgical techniques, and implant design, studies have shown that 82% to 89% of patients have reported satisfaction with activities of daily living post-TKA. Pain relief and restoration of function are the main goals and expectations of patients and are used to rate HRQoL post-TKA and general health status. This study aims to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its association with medical comorbidities among patients following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) at a Tanzanian tertiary Orthopedics Institute. This was a cross-sectional study carried out at Muhimbili Orthopedics Institute. Participants were post-TKA patients aged more than 40 years. A convenient sampling method was used to obtain a total sample size of 72. Data were collected from July 2020 to April 2021 using a socio-demographic questionnaire, the WOMAC, and SF-36. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Categorical variables, frequency distribution tables, and mean with standard deviation were used. Continuous variables were summarized as mean and standard deviation, and evaluation was done using the Student T-test with a P-value ≤ 0.05 for statistical significance. In this study, 72 patients met the criteria; 47 (65.3%) were female. Fifty-three (73.61%) participants had medical comorbidities, but there were no significant differences between males and females (P-value = 0.986). Participants had satisfactory quality of life as per findings of WOMAC, scored as follows: 15.68 at 6 weeks, 7.47 at 3 - 7 months, 6.45, and 9.56 units at 8 - 12 months and more than a year, respectively, for pain, stiffness, and physical function. This shows that pain and stiffness relief improves from six weeks but more from three months to one year post-TKA, hence positively rewarding. The mean (SD) SF-36 scores of participants were 83.5 (18.3) for physical functioning, 76.9 (15.9) for bodily pain, 75.3 (17.8) for general health, 69.2 (12.7) for emotional limitation, 64.7 (22.4) for social functioning, and 59.8 (9.1) and 96.0 (16.2) for vitality and mental health, respectively. The mean SF-36 scores indicated that post-TKA patients had generally good health with only mild pain; the difference between patients with and without medical comorbidities was not statistically significant (P = 0.5264). Patients post-TKA had improved quality of life in pain relief, physical function, and knee movement, and their general health status using WOMAC and SF-36, respectively. The burdens of medical comorbidities found in this study need attention using a multidisciplinary approach for more improvement of QoL of patients during follow-up.