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Patients with SLE had higher risk of adverse events after THA than patients with OA
Researchers of this study found systemic lupus erythematous was an independent risk factor for adverse events in patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty, according to research.
Jordan E. Roberts, BA, from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and colleagues retrospectively identified 58 patients with systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) and 116 patients with osteoarthritis (OA) who underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA) at a single center, according to the abstract. Regarding differences between patient groups, 47.4% of patients in the SLE group had a Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score of greater than 1 compared with 13.1% of patients with OA. The length of stay was 6 days for SLE patients compared with 4.7 days for patients with OA.
Overall, there was an increased risk of adverse events in the SLE group compared with patients in the OA group (odds ratio = 3.77) after controlling for comorbidities in a logistic regression analysis. Investigators found patients in the SLE group had higher rates of falls (10.3% vs. 1.7%), acute renal disease (8.6% vs. 0%), wound infections (6.9% vs. 0.9%), deep vein thrombosis (5.2% vs. 0%) and revision surgeries (5.2% vs. 0%) compared with the OA group, according to the abstract.
“Despite the improvements in disease management, patients with SLE undergoing total hip replacement should be recognized as a high-risk population,” Roberts and colleagues wrote in their study. “Further research is needed to better understand the causes of increased postoperative risk in patients with SLE.” – by Jeff Craven
Disclosure: The researchers report support from Hospital for Special Surgery Medical Student Research Fellowship, the Clinical Translational Science Center and the U.S. Centers for Education & Research on Therapeutics, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Grant.