Decide for Yourself, Don't Let Biases Decide for You
- kshepherd72
- Dec 11, 2025
- 1 min read
Strict BMI cutoffs for total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) may unintentionally restrict who gets surgery.Â
A recent study of 1,215 TAA patients from the ACS-NSQIP database (2011–2020) found that applying common BMI eligibility cutoffs (<50, <45, <40, <35) disproportionately affected certain racial, ethnic, sex, and age groups.Â
What they found
The analysis revealed notable disparities in eligibility across these demographic groups:
The tighter the BMI cutoff, the bigger the disparities.
Black patients were significantly less likely to qualify at BMI <35.
Hispanic patients had lower eligibility across all cutoffs.
White non-Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander patients were more likely to meet BMI thresholds.
Women were consistently less likely to qualify  than men.
Younger patients were more often excluded than older ones.
Bottom line
Rigid BMI rules may unintentionally restrict access to TAA, especially for Black, Hispanic, female, and younger patients.
