Clinical Characteristics and Perioperative Complication Profiles of COVID-19–Positive Patients Undergoing Hip Fracture Surgery

Who: Anoop R. Galivanche, BS; Michael R. Mercier, BA; Christopher A. Schneble, MD; Jordan Brand, MD; Neil Pathak, MD; Arya G. Varthi, MD; Lee E. Rubin, MD; Jonathan N. Grauer, MD

Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Global Research & Reviews

Overview: After matching and controlling for confounding variables, a team of Yale researchers determined that COVID-19–positive hip fracture patients had increased odds of multiple postoperative adverse events.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has imposed an unprecedented degree of stress on healthcare systems. The cited study aimed to understand whether COVID-19 positivity was associated with an increased risk of adverse events after geriatric hip fracture surgery.

From a national administrative claims dataset, patients who underwent hip fracture surgery from April 1, 2020, to December 1, 2020 were selected for analysis. Of 42,002 patients who underwent hip fracture surgery during this time period, 678 (1.61%) were identified to be positive for COVID-19 infection.

No significant differences in age, sex, or procedure type were found between COVID-19–positive and COVID-19–negative groups, but the COVID-19–positive patients demonstrated a higher incidence of several comorbidities. After matching, the COVID-19–positive group had a higher incidence of any, serious, and minor adverse events.

The authors concluded that clinicians caring for patients with geriatric hip fractures should be mindful of increased perioperative adverse events associated with COVID-19 positivity in caring for these patients during the ongoing global pandemic. The full article is available via the link.