Unseen Threefold Mortality After the First Ten Days in Hemodialysis Patients Following Joint Arthroplasty: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study of 1,287 Arthroplasty Patients on Hemodialysis

Murat Birinci; Ömer S Hakyemez; Oğuzhan Korkmaz; İzzet Bingöl; Naim Ata; Mahir M Ülgü; Şuayip Birinci; Mustafa O Ayvalı; Kerem Başarır; İbrahim Azboy

doi:10.1016/j.arth.2024.03.036

Unseen Threefold Mortality After the First Ten Days in Hemodialysis Patients Following Joint Arthroplasty: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study of 1,287 Arthroplasty Patients on Hemodialysis

J Arthroplasty. 2024 Mar 24:S0883-5403(24)00252-3. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2024.03.036. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, İstanbul Medipol University, İstanbul, Türkiye.
² Faculty of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Ankara Oncology Training and Research Hospital, Health Sciences University, Ankara, Türkiye.
³ Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Health Information Systems, Ankara, Türkiye.
⁴ Ministry of Health, Deputy Minister, Ankara, Türkiye.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Haliç University, İstanbul, Türkiye.
⁶ Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, School of Medicine, İstanbul Medipol University, İstanbul, Türkiye.

PMID: 38522803
DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2024.03.036

Abstract

Background: The study addresses the growing number of hemodialysis (HD) patients undergoing joint arthroplasty, who are at higher risk of complications and mortality. Previous research has often overlooked deaths after discharge. This study aimed to examine early outcomes in a large nationwide cohort of patients who underwent arthroplasty for elective and fracture-related reasons.

Methods: Between 2016 and 2022, a study was conducted using the e-Nabız database of the Türkiye Ministry of Health, focusing on patients aged 18 years and above who underwent elective or fracture-related arthroplasty. This study included 1,287 patients reliant on dialysis who underwent total hip arthroplasty, total knee arthroplasty, or hemiarthroplasty (HA), with 7.7% of them receiving dialysis for the first time. Propensity score matching was used to create an equally sized group of non-dialysis-dependent patients, ensuring demographic balance in terms of age, sex, a comorbidity index, and surgery type. The primary objective was to compare mortality rates 10, 30, and 90 days after arthroplasty.

Results: The first-time dialysis patients who underwent HA had significantly higher 30- and 90-day mortality rates compared to the chronic dialysis group (P = .040 and P < .001, respectively). Also, the HD patients consistently exhibited higher 90-day mortality rates across all surgery types. With total knee arthroplasty, HD patients had a mortality rate of 8.7%, in stark contrast to 0% among non-HD patients (P < .001). Similarly, with total hip arthroplasty, HD patients had a 12% mortality rate, while non-HD patients had a markedly lower rate of 2.7% (P = .008). In the case of HA, HD patients had a significantly elevated 90-day mortality rate of 31.9%, in contrast to 17.1% among non-HD patients (P < .001).

Conclusions: Joint arthroplasty has higher rates of mortality and complications among HD patients. Surgical decisions must be based on patients' overall health, necessitating collaboration among specialists. These patients should be closely monitored.

Keywords: first-time dialysis; hemiarthroplasty; hemodialysis; mortality; total joint arthroplasty.