Lower nationwide rates of arthroscopic procedures in 2016 compared with 1997 (634925 total arthroscopic procedures): has the tide turned?

Objectives: To assess the rates and secular trends of different joint arthroscopies-shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle-in Finland between 1997 and 2016.

Design: Retrospective nationwide registry study.

Participants: All adults in Finland with any arthroscopic intervention procedure code for knee, shoulder, ankle, wrist, elbow or hip arthroscopy between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2016 were included.

Main outcome measures: Incidence rate of arthroscopic surgery per 100 000 person-years.

Results: The rate of knee and shoulder arthroscopies declined after reaching a peak in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The rates of wrist, elbow and hip joint arthroscopies declined after their 2014 peak. At the same time, the median age of patients who had knee, ankle and hip arthroscopy decreased, whereas the age of patients who had shoulder arthroscopy increased.

Conclusions: Numerous randomised controlled trials point to lack of efficacy of the most common knee and shoulder arthroscopic procedures. It should not be assumed that this has contributed to decreased rates of arthroscopic surgery. The concurrent decrease in most of the other joint arthroscopic procedures was unexpected.