Jethi T, Jain D, Garg R, Selhi HS. Readmission rate and early complications in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty: A retrospective study. World J Orthop 2024; 15(8): 713-721 [PMID: 39165878 DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v15.i8.713]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Tushar Jethi, MBBS, MS, Master's Student, Surgeon, Department of Orthopedics, Fortis Hospital Ludhiana, Chandigarh Road, Near Radha Soami Satsang Bhavan, Mundian Kalan, Ludhiana 141123, Punjab, India. tj.saiyaman@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Tushar Jethi, Department of Orthopedics, Fortis Hospital Ludhiana, Ludhiana 141123, Punjab, India
Tushar Jethi, Deepak Jain, Rajnish Garg, Department of Orthopedics, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana 141001, Punjab, India
Harpal Singh Selhi, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana 141001, Punjab, India
Author contributions: Jethi T contributed to the study design and conducted the data analysis, data collection, and statistical analyses; Jain D contributed to the study design and conceptualization of the core concepts, and made other important intellectual contributions; Garg R and Selhi HS made important intellectual contributions.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital Review Board Ethics Committee and Baba Farid University of Health Sciences Faridkot (Approval No. BFUHS/2K21p-TH/658).
Informed consent statement: Before being enrolled in the study, each participant or their legal guardian gave their informed verbal consent as participants and their guardians were contacted by phone during follow up.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Tushar Jethi has not been compensated for his speaking engagements. Tushar Jethi has not gotten any money for research from any institutions. Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana employs Tushar Jethi. There are no stocks or shares that Tushar Jethi owns in Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana. There are no patents owned by Tushar Jethi.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tushar Jethi, MBBS, MS, Master's Student, Surgeon, Department of Orthopedics, Fortis Hospital Ludhiana, Chandigarh Road, Near Radha Soami Satsang Bhavan, Mundian Kalan, Ludhiana 141123, Punjab, India. tj.saiyaman@gmail.com
Received: February 11, 2024 Revised: May 29, 2024 Accepted: June 25, 2024 Published online: August 18, 2024 Processing time: 183 Days and 19.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) can improve pain, quality of life, and functional outcomes. Although uncommon, postoperative complications are extremely consequential and thus must be carefully tracked and communicated to patients to assist their decision-making before surgery. Identification of the risk factors for complications and readmissions after TKA, taking into account common causes, temporal trends, and risk variables that can be changed or left unmodified, will benefit this process.
AIM
To assess readmission rates, early complications and their causes after TKA at 30 days and 90 days post-surgery.
METHODS
This was a prospective and retrospective study of 633 patients who underwent TKA at our hospital between January 1, 2017, and February 28, 2022. Of the 633 patients, 28 were not contactable, leaving 609 who met the inclusion criteria. Both inpatient and outpatient hospital records were retrieved, and observations were noted in the data collection forms.
RESULTS
Following TKA, the 30-day and 90-day readmission rates were determined to be 1.1% (n = 7) and 1.8% (n = 11), respectively. The unplanned visit rate at 30 days following TKA was 2.6% (n = 16) and at 90 days was 4.6% (n = 28). At 90 days, the unplanned readmission rate was 1.4% (n = 9). Reasons for readmissions included medical (27.2%, n = 3) and surgical (72.7%, n = 8). Unplanned readmissions and visits within 90 days of follow-up did not substantially differ by age group (P = 0.922), body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.633), unilateral vs bilateral TKA (P = 0.696), or patient comorbidity status (30-day P = 0.171 and 90-day P = 0.813). Reoperation rates after TKA were 0.66% (n = 4) at 30 days and 1.15% (n = 8) at 90 days. The average length of stay was 6.53 days.
CONCLUSION
In this study, there was a low readmission rate following TKA. There was no significant correlation between readmission rate and patient factors such as age, BMI, and co-morbidity status.
Core Tip: As the rates of total knee arthroplasty are currently increasing, there is a need to study the potential complications that may occur after the surgery. This study highlights the complications that occur postoperatively and potential risk factors that can contribute to the complications. It also assesses the relationship between age, sex, co-morbidities, length of stay, and early readmission after surgery, categorizing these readmissions by surgical and medical reasons depending on the type of treatment received by the patients.
