Study: Use warm air blanket vs. heated mattress for arthroplasty surgery
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Key takeaways:
- A warm air blanket may be preferred to a heated mattress during arthroplasty surgery.
- Patients treated with a warm air blanket were at decreased risk for perioperative hypothermia.
A warm air blanket is preferred to a heated mattress during arthroplasty surgery as
published results showed patients who had a heated mattress had a longer length of stay in the postoperative ward possibly due to higher hypothermia rates.
Researchers performed a retrospective cohort study of 4,683 patients who underwent total hip or knee arthroplasty from Jan. 1, 2015, to May 1, 2022, with either a warm air blanket or heated mattress to prevent perioperative hypothermia. According to the study, the researchers used logistic and linear regression to analyze rates of hypothermia and overall complications.
Compared with patients treated with a heated mattress, patients treated with a warm air blanket were at decreased risk for perioperative hypothermia during both THA (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.42) and TKA (aOR = 2.1). They also found patients treated with a heated mattress had “significantly longer” stays in the postoperative ward compared with patients treated with a warm air blanket (mean difference of 6 minutes after THA and 4 minutes after TKA). With overall infection rates between 0.5% and 1.3%, researchers found no differences in postoperative infections between either group.
“A warm air blanket is superior compared to a heated mattress in preventing perioperative hypothermia, with no increased risk of complications,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Patients who have a [heated mattress] stayed longer at the postoperative ward, potentially because of higher hypothermia rates. Therefore, it is suggested to use a warm air blanket instead of a heated mattress,” they concluded.
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