Background:
Individuals with hemophilia undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty are at risk
for complications such as bleeding and infection. However, data on hospital
length of stay (LOS) and readmission rates compared with nonhemophilic
controls are lacking. This study compared the complication rates, LOS, and
unplanned 30-day readmission rates between patients with hemophilia and
nonhemophilic controls.
Methods:
This retrospective cohort study used the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost
Containment Council (PHC4) database from 2007 to 2015 to compare outcomes in
patients with hemophilia and nonhemophilic controls undergoing partial and
total hip arthroplasty, knee arthroplasty, and revision knee
arthroplasty.
Results:
A total of 118 patients with hemophilia and 3,811 controls were identified.
Compared with controls, patients with hemophilia had a higher risk of
bleeding complications after hip procedures (38.7% versus 16.1%, p =
0.003), a higher risk of surgical site infection after knee procedures (8.1%
versus 1.1%, p < 0.001), longer median LOS after hip (6 versus 3 days,
p < 0.001) and knee (5 versus 3 days, p < 0.001) procedures, and
higher rates of unplanned 30-day readmission after hip (22.6% versus 4.1%, p
< 0.001) and knee (10.3% versus 4.5%, p = 0.018) procedures. The
most common reason for unplanned 30-day readmission in patients with
hemophilia was bleeding or the patient’s underlying coagulopathy
(25.1%).
Conclusions:
Patients with hemophilia undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty had a higher
incidence of postoperative bleeding (hip procedures) and surgical site
infections (knee procedures), longer LOS, and higher rates of unplanned
30-day readmission compared with nonhemophilic controls. Key limitations of
our study include the potential for inaccurate coding, the relatively small
number of patients in the hemophilia cohort, and the uneven distribution of
procedure type in the hemophilia and control cohorts.
Level of Evidence:
Prognostic
Level III
. See Instructions for Authors for
a complete description of levels of evidence.