TY - JOUR

T1 - Fatal outcome and intensive care unit admission after total hip and knee arthroplasty

T2 - An analytic of preoperative frailty and comorbidities

AU - Laursen, Christina C.

AU - Meyhoff, Christian S.

AU - Petersen, Tonny S.

AU - Jimenez-Solem, Espen

AU - Sørensen, Anne M.S.

AU - Lunn, Troels H.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Background: With increasing demand for total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA), a higher percentage of patients are identified with comorbidities that might increase the risk of complications. We aimed to elucidate the preoperative characteristics of patients with a fatal outcome or admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) within 90 days after THA or TKA. We arbitrarily hypothesized that more than 50% of those patients would be frail. Methods: This is a register based, explorative study including patients undergoing elective, unilateral, primary THA or TKA in the Capital Region of Denmark from 2010 to 2017, and who subsequently died or were admitted to the ICU within 90 days. The modified Frailty Index (mFI) was calculated from the medical records, and a score of ≥0.36 defined frailty. Results: A total of 33,758 patients underwent THA or TKA, and 284 patients (0.8%) died or were admitted to the ICU within 90 days. Fifty-seven patients (20%) were frail (95% CI 16.2–25.7%). The most common comorbidities were hypertension (63%) and pulmonary diseases (32%), and 56% used walking aids. Two or more comorbidities were present in 65% of patients, and 14% had no comorbidities at all. Conclusion: Only 20% of patients with a fatal outcome or ICU admission after elective THA or TKA could be categorized as frail based on the mFI. Further studies with a prospective design are needed to clarify the mFI as a risk stratification tool in elderly multimorbid patients undergoing elective arthroplasty surgery.

AB - Background: With increasing demand for total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA), a higher percentage of patients are identified with comorbidities that might increase the risk of complications. We aimed to elucidate the preoperative characteristics of patients with a fatal outcome or admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) within 90 days after THA or TKA. We arbitrarily hypothesized that more than 50% of those patients would be frail. Methods: This is a register based, explorative study including patients undergoing elective, unilateral, primary THA or TKA in the Capital Region of Denmark from 2010 to 2017, and who subsequently died or were admitted to the ICU within 90 days. The modified Frailty Index (mFI) was calculated from the medical records, and a score of ≥0.36 defined frailty. Results: A total of 33,758 patients underwent THA or TKA, and 284 patients (0.8%) died or were admitted to the ICU within 90 days. Fifty-seven patients (20%) were frail (95% CI 16.2–25.7%). The most common comorbidities were hypertension (63%) and pulmonary diseases (32%), and 56% used walking aids. Two or more comorbidities were present in 65% of patients, and 14% had no comorbidities at all. Conclusion: Only 20% of patients with a fatal outcome or ICU admission after elective THA or TKA could be categorized as frail based on the mFI. Further studies with a prospective design are needed to clarify the mFI as a risk stratification tool in elderly multimorbid patients undergoing elective arthroplasty surgery.

KW - comorbidities

KW - fatal outcome

KW - frailty

KW - intensive care unit admission

KW - modified frailty index

KW - THA

KW - TKA

KW - total hip arthroplasty

KW - total knee arthroplasty

U2 - 10.1111/aas.13950

DO - 10.1111/aas.13950

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34252199

AN - SCOPUS:85112335234

VL - 65

SP - 1390

EP - 1396

JO - Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica

JF - Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica

SN - 0001-5172

IS - 10

ER -