3.1 Patients’ Post-Decision Aid Choices and Treatment Receipt
Of the total sample of patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis, just
over two-thirds (n=936/1,351) received treatments that aligned with
their choice (whether for surgery or non-surgical treatment) after
exposure to decision aids, while the remaining one-third (n=415/1,351)
received treatments that were not aligned with their choice. There are
important differences across hip and knee patients preferring surgery
versus non-surgical treatment and receipt of choice-aligned (or
non-aligned) treatments. Among patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis
who expressed a post-decision aid choice of non-surgical treatment, the
overwhelming majority (88.6% and 95.3 % of hip and knee patients,
respectively) received non-surgical treatments. Comparatively, the
relative percentages of patients who chose and received surgery are
smaller, although they still represent a majority of that respective
sample (67.4% of hip patients and 52.3% of knee patients). Notably,
the majority of both patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis who
received decision aids within HVHC systems chose surgery as their
preferred treatment (79% and 62.8%, respectively). Figures 1 and 2
illustrate in bar graph form the distribution of patients with knee or
hip osteoarthritis who received surgery according to their post-decision
aid treatment choice (surgery or non-surgical treatment).