Grant: Catalyst Gr: Address. Musculoskeletal Cond./Arthritis in Cnds- Joint replacement

The prevalence of obesity and arthritis are increasing in Canada. Unfortunately, much of the research into arthroplasty and obesity has focussed on surgical complications. This approach has ignored the unique challenges obese individuals face when they also struggle with severe arthritis. It also contributes to a likely bias against offering these patients arthroplasty, despite the demonstrated benefits in terms of pain, function and quality of life. The proposed research will examine and quantify this bias (in terms of wait-time), it will determine if surgeon experience is associated with an improvement in outcomes, and also assess the impact of arthroplasty on the lives of morbidly obese patients in terms of survival benefit and healthcare utilization. The identification of potentially modifiable factors that may improve outcomes in these patients (such as surgeon or hospital experience with obese patients) will aid in the development of strategies (including potential centralization of care) to address the impact of obesity amongst arthroplasty recipients.