Post-traumatic ankle osteoarthritis: Quality of life, frequency and associated factors

Background. To assess the quality of life in patients with post-traumatic ankle osteoarthritis (PTOA) and evaluate frequency and relationship between dependent and independent factors. Methods. We performed a prospective study of patients with post-traumatic ankle osteoarthritis analyzing American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot score, VAS, Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) divided into mental (MCS) and physical (PCS) component. Results. Our sample consisted of 258 patients, 162 (62.79%) males and 96 (37.21%) females, with a mean age of 53.6±13.58. In 141 (54.65%) cases the right ankle was affected, in 117 (45.35%) the left. Overweight patients (BMI 25.0-29.99) was the predominant class (43%). PCS and MCS resulted respectively 33.15 and 41.53. We found a positive correlation between PCS and AOFAS (p-value=0.02644 R=0.14) and a negative correlation between AOFAS and VAS (p-value<0.0001, R=-0.30), VAS and PCS (p-value=0.0109, R=-0.16) and MCS and PCS (p-value=0.02696, R=-0.14). Conclusions. PTOA impact patient’s quality of life in an important way with limitations in daily activities. Around the age of 35, the physical and mental values of SF-12 tend to be very different. Almost half of the patients were overweight, while we did not find any differences as regards the affected side.