The obesity epidemic: its effect on total joint arthroplasty.

A retrospective review of patients with joint arthroplasty was performed to determine if body mass index has increased with time and if the body mass index of patients with arthroplasty was significantly different than that of the general population. We also sought to determine if reimbursement kept pace with this growing cohort. The number of obese patients increased from 30.4% in 1990 to 52.1% in 2005 (P < .0001). In 2005, 24% of the general population was obese, whereas 52.1% of arthroplasty patients were obese. Physician reimbursement decreased 38% for knee arthroplasty and 46% for hip arthroplasty and the need for total joint arthroplasty because of these confounding variables will increase exponentially beyond scheduled expectations. Patients and health policy forecasters must understand the interrelationship between obesity and the need for arthroplasty.