Objective:
To assess when patients resumed driving after fast-track hip and knee arthroplasty and identify factors associated with resumption later than 6 weeks.
Approach:
- Design and setting: Single-center prospective cohort study at Odense University Hospital, Denmark, from September 2022 to July 2023.
- Participants: Of 408 questionnaire recipients, 357 responded; after excluding 51 without a driver's license, 306 patients were analyzed: 134 after THA, 103 after TKA, and 69 after mUKA.
- Assessment: Questionnaires sent 3–12 months after discharge assessed self-reported time to driving resumption, factors associated with delay beyond 6 weeks, and postoperative traffic incidents.
Key Findings:
- Median time to driving resumption was 4 weeks after mUKA and 6 weeks after THA or TKA.
- Median resumption was 4 weeks after left-sided surgery and 6 weeks after right-sided surgery.
- By 6 weeks, 77% of THA, 65% of TKA, and 80% of mUKA patients had resumed driving.
- Female patients had 2.8 times the odds of delayed resumption beyond 6 weeks compared with male patients. Other listed factors were not statistically significantly associated with delay in adjusted analysis.
- Two patients (0.7%) reported a postoperative automobile traffic incident.
Interpretation:
The authors stated that driving recommendations may need to reflect individual functional recovery rather than a fixed interval. They noted that driving performance was not objectively assessed, so the safety of earlier resumption remains uncertain.
Limitations:
- Driving resumption was self-reported 3–12 months after discharge, creating potential recall bias.
- Preoperative driving habits and experience were insufficiently documented.
- Small subgroups and multiple variables increased uncertainty in analyses of delayed driving.
- Unmeasured group differences and selection bias could have affected results; exclusion of patients without access to the required digital mailbox may limit generalizability.
- Existing expectations of a 6-week recovery period may have influenced patients' decisions.
Conclusion:
The study found earlier self-reported driving resumption after mUKA and left-sided surgery, but did not objectively establish the safety of earlier driving.
Sources:
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