Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep;55(18):1018-1023.
doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101844. Epub 2020 Apr 2.

Lower nationwide rates of arthroscopic procedures in 2016 compared with 1997 (634925 total arthroscopic procedures): has the tide turned?

Margit C Karelson  1 , Jarkko Jokihaara  2 , Antti P Launonen  3 , Tuomas Huttunen  4 , Ville M Mattila  5   6
Affiliations

Lower nationwide rates of arthroscopic procedures in 2016 compared with 1997 (634925 total arthroscopic procedures): has the tide turned?

Margit C Karelson et al. Br J Sports Med. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the rates and secular trends of different joint arthroscopies-shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle-in Finland between 1997 and 2016.

Design: Retrospective nationwide registry study.

Participants: All adults in Finland with any arthroscopic intervention procedure code for knee, shoulder, ankle, wrist, elbow or hip arthroscopy between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2016 were included.

Main outcome measures: Incidence rate of arthroscopic surgery per 100 000 person-years.

Results: The rate of knee and shoulder arthroscopies declined after reaching a peak in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The rates of wrist, elbow and hip joint arthroscopies declined after their 2014 peak. At the same time, the median age of patients who had knee, ankle and hip arthroscopy decreased, whereas the age of patients who had shoulder arthroscopy increased.

Conclusions: Numerous randomised controlled trials point to lack of efficacy of the most common knee and shoulder arthroscopic procedures. It should not be assumed that this has contributed to decreased rates of arthroscopic surgery. The concurrent decrease in most of the other joint arthroscopic procedures was unexpected.

Keywords: arthroscopic surgery; arthroscopy; randomised controlled trial; research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Rate of (A) knee and shoulder arthroscopies and (B) elbow, wrist, ankle and hip arthroscopies between 1997 and 2016 per 100 000 person-years.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Rate of knee arthroscopy in different age groups per 100 000 person-years.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Rate of shoulder arthroscopy in different age groups per 100 000 person-years.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Rate of ankle arthroscopy in different age groups per 100 000 person-years.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Rate of wrist arthroscopy in different age groups per 100 000 person-years.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Rate of elbow arthroscopy in different age groups per 100 000 person-years.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Rate of hip joint arthroscopy in different age groups per 100 000 person-years.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Paloneva J, Lepola V, Karppinen J, et al. . Declining incidence of acromioplasty in Finland. Acta Orthop 2015;86:220–4. 10.3109/17453674.2014.977703 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Katz JN, Brophy RH, Chaisson CE, et al. . Surgery versus physical therapy for a meniscal tear and osteoarthritis. N Engl J Med Overseas Ed 2013;368:1675–84. 10.1056/NEJMoa1301408 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Thorlund JB, Englund M, Christensen R, et al. . Patient reported outcomes in patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for traumatic or degenerative meniscal tears: comparative prospective cohort study. BMJ 2017;356:j356. 10.1136/bmj.j356 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Thorlund JB, Juhl CB, Roos EM, et al. . Arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee: systematic review and meta-analysis of benefits and harms. Br J Sports Med 2015;49:1229–35. 10.1136/bjsports-2015-h2747rep - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Khan M, Evaniew N, Bedi A, et al. . Arthroscopic surgery for degenerative tears of the meniscus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Can Med Assoc J 2014;186:1057–64. 10.1503/cmaj.140433 - DOI - PMC - PubMed