Objectives: Early surgery is recommended for hip fractures in elderly patients. This study was performed to evaluate factors contributing to delayed surgery and associated outcomes in a secondary hospital in Japan with a rehabilitation centre.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 895 patients aged >50 years [median age, 86 (81-91) years] treated for hip fractures at our institution from 2016 to 2020. We defined surgical delay as surgery performed >48 h after admission. We evaluated several risk factors for surgical delay and associated outcomes: mortality, length of hospital stay and walking status.
Results: Binomial logistic regression analysis showed that several factors, including preoperative echocardiographic delay (odds ratio, 9.38; 95% confidence interval, 5.95-15.28), were risk factors for surgical delay. In the multiple regression analyses, surgical delay was a significant risk factor for a longer hospital stay (partial regression coefficient, 6.99; 95% confidence interval, 3.67-10.31).
Conclusions: Our findings indicated that preoperative echocardiographic delay was one of the risk factors for surgical delay of hip fractures in elderly patients. Surgical delay was a risk factor for a longer hospital stay, including rehabilitation.
Keywords: Hip fractures; echocardiography; length of stay; mortality; preoperative period.
© The Author(s) 2024.