Purpose: Femoral neck fracture usually occurs in the geriatric population. Postoperative pneumonia (POP) is known to be devastated, and it is the most frequent complication among patients receiving surgical treatment for femoral neck fractures. However, whether patients who have hypoalbuminaemia are susceptible to the development of POP is a serious concern, although it has not been investigated. We attempted to investigate the association between newly developed POP and hypoalbuminaemia and to identify whether hypoalbuminaemia is an independent risk factor for POP after femoral neck fracture in geriatric population. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records from the first 30 days after surgery of patients who were ≥65 years of age and who had a femoral neck fracture treated with surgery between January 2018 and December 2018 at the Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University. Patients were divided into two groups based on whether they did or did not experience POP, and their clinical characteristics were compared. Binomial logistic regression was used to identify potential risk factors of POP by analysing demographic factors, preoperative comorbidities, laboratory results, and surgical factors. Results: A total of 720 patients were included in the analysis, and 54 patients experienced POP. The incidence of POP after surgical treatment for a femoral neck fracture in this geriatric population was 7.5%. In addition, patients with POP had significantly longer hospital stays than patients without POP. The binary logistic regression analysis revealed that preoperative hypoalbuminaemia [odds ratio =5.187, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.561-10.506, P<0.0001], COPD (OR =3.819, 95% CI: 1.247-11.701, P=0.019), prior stroke (OR =3.107, 95% CI: 1.470-6.568, P=0.003) and the time from injury to surgery (OR =1.076, 95% CI: 1.034-1.119, P<0.0001) were predominant and independent risk factors associated with POP after femoral neck fracture in this geriatric population. Conclusion: The current study revealed that among a geriatric population admitted for femoral neck fracture surgery, preoperative hypoalbuminaemia was a predictor of POP, followed by COPD, prior stroke and the time from injury to surgery. Thus, patients who undergo femoral neck fracture surgery and have preoperative hypoalbuminaemia should receive additional monitoring and perioperative care.

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ObjectiveTo identify whether the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood (PaO2) level at admission is an independent risk factor as a prognostic biomarker to predict postoperative pneumonia (POP) in the geriatric population who have undergone hip fracture surgical repair at our hospital.DesignA retrospective cohort study.SettingThis is a retrospective chart review of POP after hip fracture surgery in China.ParticipantsIn training cohort, patients aged ≥65 years who had hip fracture surgery between 1 January 2018 and 30 November 2019. In the validation cohort, a series of patients who underwent hip fracture surgery between 1 January 2020 and 28 February 2020.InterventionsReceiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to obtain the area under the ROC curve (AUC) and cut-off values of PaO2 to predict POP. A binomial logistic regression model was used to identify potential risk factors for POP by analysing demographic distribution factors, laboratory results, preoperative comorbidities and surgical factors. Then the regression model was validated using an independent cohort.ResultsIn the training cohort, ROC curves were generated to compare the predictive performance of PaO2 for the occurrence of POP, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.653 (95% CI 0.577 to 0.729, p<0.0001), with sensitivity and specificity values of 60.0% and 63.8%, respectively. The cut-off value of the PaO2 for POP was 72.5 mm Hg. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that hypoxaemia (PaO2 <72.5 mm Hg) at hospital admission (OR=3.000, 95% CI 1.629 to 5.528; p<0.0001) was independent risk factors associated with POP after hip fracture surgery. In the validation cohort, PaO2 had a predictive effect for POP (AUC 0.71, 95% CI 0.541 to 0.891).ConclusionsThe current study revealed that the PaO2 level at hospital admission is a simple and widely available biomarker predictor of POP after hip fracture surgery in elderly patients.