Abstract
Introduction
Despite an ageing population and a rise in the number of joint replacements being performed, the mean age of patients undergoing surgery remains static. One explanation for this is continued concern over the risks of performing surgery on the very elderly. The Elective Orthopaedic Centre, Epsom has an established patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) programme into which all patients are routinely enrolled. Post-operative complications, Oxford scores and Euro-Quol (EQ5-D) are collected to the second post-operative year.
Methods and Results
We retrospectively reviewed our data set for a cohort of nonagenarians undergoing primary total hip replacement (THR) between April 2008 and October 2011. Post-operative complications, mortality rates and functional outcomes were compared to those of a time matched 70–79 year old cohort. Only patients with a primary diagnosis of osteoarthritis were included whereas an exclusion criterion consisted of patients undergoing revision surgery, simultaneous bilateral replacements or conversion from a dynamic hip screw.
We identified 38 nonagenarian patients (12 men and 26 women), with a mean age of 92.18 (90–99) and the control group consisted of 55 patients (21 men and 34 women), with a mean age of 74.69 (70–79).
We found that nonagenarians requiring a THR presented with lower pre-operative Oxford Hip Score (OHS) (p=0.02) but made a greater improvement in the first post-operative year than the younger cohort (p=0.040). The nonagenarians had a greater risk of requiring a blood transfusion following THR (p= 0.0265; CI 1.11 to 5.75), and also required a longer stay than their younger counterparts (p=0.001). Mortality rates were higher in the nonagenarian cohort, but these were in keeping with the life expectancy projections identified by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Conclusion
In conclusion, we identified that over a 2 year period, nonagenarians achieved the same functional outcome and satisfaction rates following a THR as 70–79 year olds.
