Researchers to Study Hip Replacement, Jobs, Retirement

Researchers in Italy, the U.K., and the U.S. will study the impact of hip replacement therapy on the employment and retirement decisions of older adults. The project with participants from Università Bocconi in Milan, University of York in the U.K., and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland is funded by a $240,000 grant from the Institute for Health Technology Studies.

Hip replacement can improve quality of life by restoring physical mobility and reducing pain, but evidence suggests that many patients who might benefit from the procedure do not receive it. Currently, between 200,000 and 300,000 hip replacement procedures are performed in the United States each year. However, the 2002 U.S. Health and Retirement Study shows nearly half of retired respondents ages 55 to 64 reported arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions as the most significant reasons they could no longer work.

Early retirements caused by these physical conditions contribute to the strains on public and private pension systems in the U.S. and Europe. The researchers aim to find evidence on the role hip replacements may play to enable people with debilitating musculoskeletal conditions, such as arthritis, to continue working, and thus not immediately draw on their pension funds.

The researchers will examine economic and socio-demographic factors that contribute to an individual’s decision about receiving a hip replacement. Data sources for the study will include the English Longitudinal Study of Aging; the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe; and the U.S. Health and Retirement Study.

The three sources collect similar financial and other patient information:

• Current and prospective pension payments
• Employment
• Health conditions and physical health
• Health care interventions
• Socio-demographic characteristics of individuals 50 years of age or older and their partners

Investigators will then compare patients who received a hip replacement with those who did not, to determine how the treatment affected their employment and retirement decisions. Based on these data, the team will estimate the impact of hip replacement on pension and Social Security systems. They will also estimate the potential outcome of financial incentives, such as tax breaks, that could encourage working adults to delay retirement.

Photo: Jorge Franganillo/Flickr

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