Background Total hip and total knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) are increasing in incidence annually. While these procedures are effective in improving pain and function, there is a risk of complications. Methods Using data from an arthroplasty registry, we described complication rates including reasons for reoperation and readmission from the acute period to six months following THA and TKA in an Australian context. Data collection at 6 months was conducted via telephone interview, and included patient-reported complications such as joint stiffness, swelling and paraesthesia. We used logistic regression to identify risk factors for complications. Results In the 8444 procedures included for analysis, major complications were reported by 9.5 and 14.4% of THA and TKA patients, respectively, whilst minor complications were reported by 34.0 and 46.6% of THA and TKA patients, respectively. Overall complications rates were 39.7 and 53.6% for THA and TKA patients, respectively. In THA patients, factors associated with increased risk for complications included increased BMI, previous THA and bilateral surgery, whereas in TKA patient factors were heart disease, neurological disease, and pre-operative back pain and arthritis in a separate joint. Female gender and previous TKA were identified as protective factors for minor complications in TKA patients. Conclusion We found moderate rates of major and high rates of minor postoperative complications following THA and TKA in Australia and have identified several patient factors associated with these complications. Efforts should be focused on identifying patients with higher risk and optimising pre- and post-operative care to reduce the rates of these complications.

BackgroundPatient reported outcomes are increasingly used to assess the success of surgical procedures. Patient reported complications are often included as an outcome. However, these data must be validated to be accurate and useful in clinical practice.MethodsThis was a retrospective descriptive study of 364 patients who had completed their six-month follow-up review questionnaire in the Arthroplasty Clinical Outcomes Registry, National (ACORN), an Australian orthopaedic registry. Patient-reported complications following total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were compared to surgeon-reported complications recorded in their electronic medical records at their various follow-up appointments. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated. Agreement was assessed using percentage agreement and Cohen’s kappa.ResultsPatient-reported data from the ACORN registry returned overall low sensitivity (0.14), negative predictive value (0.13) and kappa values (0.11), but very high specificity (0.98), positive predictive value (0.98) and agreement values (96.3%) for reporting of complications when compared to surgeon-reported data. Values varied depending on the type and category of complication.ConclusionPatients are accurate in reporting the absence of complications, but not the presence. Sensitivity of patient-reported complications needs to be improved. Greater attention to the clarity of the questions asked may help in this respect.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12874-018-0645-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Total hip and total knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) are increasing in incidence annually. While these procedures are effective in improving pain and function, there is a risk of complications. Methods Using data from an arthroplasty registry, we described complication rates including reasons for reoperation and readmission from the acute period to six months following THA and TKA in an Australian context. We also used logistic regression to identify risk factors for complications. Results In the 8,444 procedures included for analysis, 39.7% of THA and 53.6% of TKA patients reported a major or minor complication. In THA patients, factors associated with increased risk for complications included increased BMI, previous THA and bilateral surgery, whereas in TKA patient factors were heart disease, neurological disease, and pre-operative back pain and arthritis in a separate joint. Female gender and previous TKA were identified as protective factors for minor complications in TKA patients. Conclusion We found moderate rates of major and high rates of minor postoperative complications following THA and TKA in Australia and have identified several patient factors associated with these complications. Efforts should be focused on identifying patients with higher risk and optimising pre- and post-operative care to reduce the rates of these complications.

Background: Total hip and total knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) are increasing in incidence annually. While these procedures are effective in improving pain and function, there is a risk of complications. Methods: Using data from an arthroplasty registry, we described complication rates including reasons for reoperation and readmission from the acute period to six months following THA and TKA in an Australian context. Data collection at 6 months was conducted via telephone interview, and included patient-reported complications such as joint stiffness, swelling and paraesthesia. We used logistic regression to identify risk factors for complications. Results: In the 8,444 procedures included for analysis, major complications were reported by 9.5% and 14.4% of THA and TKA patients, respectively, whilst minor complications were reported by 34.0% and 46.6% of THA and TKA patients, respectively. Overall complications rates were 39.7% and 53.6% for THA and TKA patients, respectively. In THA patients, factors associated with increased risk for complications included increased BMI, previous THA and bilateral surgery, whereas in TKA patient factors were heart disease, neurological disease, and pre-operative back pain and arthritis in a separate joint. Female gender and previous TKA were identified as protective factors for minor complications in TKA patients.Conclusion: We found moderate rates of major and high rates of minor postoperative complications following THA and TKA in Australia and have identified several patient factors associated with these complications. Efforts should be focused on identifying patients with higher risk and optimising pre- and post-operative care to reduce the rates of these complications.