Joint replacement surgery, first performed in the 1960s, is on the rise. In fact, it has become one of the most common orthopedic surgeries in the United States today, done in ever-increasing numbers as improvements in technology and techniques have made these procedures steadily safer and more reliable over recent years.
As the frequency of these procedures has increased, so too has the amount of available information related to them, and some of it is quite interesting. Here, we've assembled a list of 10 startling statistics on joint replacement surgery.
1. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), when it comes to joint replacement surgery, hips and knees are definitely at the top of the heap, with over a million hip and knee replacements performed in the U.S. alone in 2013.
2. Medicare spent more than 6 billion dollars on knee and hip replacement surgeries in 2013, according to NerdWallet Health.
3. According to The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, the number of primary total knee replacements is predicted to rise to 3.48 million by 2030
4. The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery reports that between 1971 to 2003, incidence of total knee replacement rose by more than 400 percent, and total hip replacements increased by 55 percent.
5. The number of knee replacement procedures performed in the U.S. has doubled in the past decade, according to NerdWallet Health.
6. According to a Washington Post report, nearly half – 44 percent – of retired football players will need joint replacement surgery or have already had a procedure.
7. Approximately 1 of every 12 adults over the age of 25 in the U.S., according to NerdWallet Health, will have knee replacement procedures within their lifetimes.
8. NerdWallet Health reports that in the U.S., approximately 5 percent of women over the age of 50 have had knee replacement surgery.
9. According to The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, the number of revision total knee replacements is predicted to reach 268,200 in 2030, representing a 600 percent increase over the number of procedures performed in 2005.
10. Revision total hip replacements are expected to rise to 96,700 in 2030, according to The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, a 137 percent increase over 2005 numbers.
Other interesting facts about joint replacement surgery include that women are much more likely to need knee replacement than men, and rates of joint replacement due to rheumatoid arthritis have been dropping, while surgeries due to osteoarthritis are on the rise. Lastly, although there are many people in their 80s and 90s having these procedures, the largest increase in joint replacement in recent years has occurred in patients below the age of 50.
