The Association of Patient and Procedural Factors on Improved Outcomes: A Cluster Analysis on 853 Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients

Many studies involving robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty (RATKA) have demonstrated superiority regarding soft tissue balance and consistency with alignment target achievement. However, studies investigating whether RATKA is associated with improved patient outcomes regarding physical function and pain are also important. Therefore, we performed a cluster analysis and examined factors that contributed to differences in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Specifically, we analyzed: (1) reduced WOMAC (rWOMAC) scores regarding pain and function; (2) usage of RATKA; (3) common patient comorbidities; as well as (4) patient demographic factors. The rWOMAC score is an abbreviated PROM that includes pain and physical function domains. This study analyzed 853 patients (95 conventional and 758 robotic-assisted) who had completed preoperative, 6-month, and 1-year postoperative rWOMAC surveys. Two clusters were constructed using rWOMAC pain and function scores at 1 year. Cluster 1 included 753 patients who had better outcomes at 1 year (mean rWOMAC pain = 0.9, mean rWOMAC function = 1.4), and cluster 2 included 100 patients who had worse outcomes at 1 year (mean rWOMAC pain = 7.7, mean rWOMAC function = 10.4). The clusters were compared to determine (1) how scores improved and (2) what patient characteristics were significantly different between clusters. Cluster 1 demonstrated greater improvement from preoperative to 6 months or 1 year ( p = 0.0013 for pain preoperative to 6 months, p < 0.0001 for other measures) and 6 months to 1 year ( p < 0.0001). Comparisons demonstrated that cluster 1 had older patients (67 vs. 65 years, p = 0.0479) who had lower body mass index or BMIs (31.8 vs. 33.9 kg/m (2) , p = 0.0042) and no significant differences in sex ( p = 0.7849). Cluster 1 also had a significantly higher percentage of RATKA patients (90 vs. 79%, p < 0.001). Cluster analyses provided differentiating factors which were associated with improved postoperative rWOMAC pain and function scores at 1 year. Patients undergoing robotic-assisted TKA were associated with better rWOMAC pain and function scores from preoperative to 6 months and 1 year.