Last updated: 11/24/2009

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons reports that approximately 713,000 arthroplasty surgeries are performed annually in the United States. Of these, an average of about 362,000 are knee surgeries and 295,000 are hip surgeries....

The remainder are ankle, shoulder, wrist, and hand surgeries. Joint replacement surgeries are increasing; for example, 259,000 total knee replacements were performed in 1997 and 299,000 were performed in 2000.

Because the primary underlying condition in patients undergoing arthroplasty is osteoarthritis, a common cause for disability among older adults, the majority of patients undergoing this surgery fit the demographic profile for osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, with over twenty million people in all parts of the United States. Both men and women have the disease; under age 45 men are more often affected, though more women than men are affected after age 45. Younger people can have the disease after a joint injury. Arthroplasty is reserved for the most severely afflicted—approximately 3% of all patients with osteoarthritis, women more often than men. Two and one-half million people in the United States have rheumatoid arthritis, which can strike people of all ages. Very few have arthroplasty because this chronic crippling disease affects not only multiple joints but other parts of the body as well, including the immune system. Patients weakened by this disease are more subject to infection and less likely to enjoy positive surgical results.