Cost effectiveness of total knee arthroplasty from a health care providers' perspective before and after introduction of an interdisciplinary clinical pathway - is investment always improvement?

Table 1 Sociodemographic cofactors in TKA patients before and after implementation of a clinical pathway were found comparable.

	before pathway implementation	after pathway implementation, without personal briefing	after pathway implementation and personal briefing
	(n = 132)	(n = 70)	(n = 58)
*age: median and range [years]*	68 (43 - 88) years	69 (46 - 85) years	70 (53 - 80) years
< 60 years	19%	20%	16%
60 - 70 years	40%	34%	40%
> 70 years	41%	46%	45%
*females*	64%	54%	59%
*living alone*	32%	30%	26%
*under employment*	8%	10%	9%
*graduate*	20%	13%	22%

distribution characteristics for sociodemographic cofactors assessed in 132 patients, who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) before implementation of a critical pathway on TKA, versus 128 patients, who underwent TKA after path implementation (the latter being stratified for attendance of a personal briefing as a voluntary part of the pathway)

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