BOA/ORUK Research Fellowship: Arthroplasty Research Cohort (ARC) Study - A collaborative, longitudinal observational cohort study of patients undergoing primary hip and knee replacements in the United Kingdom

The team behind this research project aims to recruit a nationally representative cohort of patients receiving hip and knee replacements to track outcomes from procedures and facilitate clinical trials.

Patients about to undergo an arthroplasty procedure will be recruited using social media advertising and directed to a website where they complete an electronic consent form and then provide baseline data. This includes details of their medical history and lifestyle. After undergoing their surgery they will be sent online questionnaires automatically at two weeks, four months, eight months, one year and two years. This will provide the researchers with invaluable data on the factors affecting outcomes from arthroplasty procedures. The data can be linked to other data sets such as the National Joint Registry to obtain procedure specific details that are difficult to gain directly from patients. This will also enable researchers to see how the self-reported data matches the official datasets.

The plan is to invite this cohort of patients to volunteer for ongoing clinical trials, which can be run more efficiently and cost effectively using this ‘light touch’ design.

According to Mr Will Fishley, Registrar in Trauma and Orthopaedics, ‘This approach allows us to automate many tasks and complete these remotely, such as completing forms with patients, collecting Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and chasing incomplete results. These would normally require time from research teams and be associated with significant costs. We can run this study without placing additional burden upon local research teams, or patients, with no requirement for additional research visits. We are also involving patients who are interested and motivated to support clinical research.’

The team is planning to recruit a minimum of 5,000 patients over the next five years and hope to run multiple trials investigating the impact on outcomes of interventions before, during and after the procedure. With the necessary approvals, the arthroplasty patients’ cohort data set can also be modified in the future with the addition of questions to cover newly identified knowledge gaps.

Acknowledgements:

• Research and Development Team, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Professor Mike Reed, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and University of York
• Professor Joy Adamson, University of York
• Dr Puvan Tharmanathan, University of York

Further information on the study is available at: www.arcstudy.org.uk