Routine Preoperative Nutritional Screening in All Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty Patients Has Little Utility

Nutritional optimization before total joint arthroplasty (TJA) may improve patient outcomes and decrease costs. However, the utility of serologic laboratory markers, including albumin, transferrin, and total lymphocyte count (TLC), as primary indicators of nutrition is unclear. We analyzed the prevalence of abnormal nutritional values before TJA and identified factors associated with them.

We retrospectively reviewed 819 primary cases of TJA performed at 1 institution from January to December 2018. Patient demographic characteristics were assessed for associations with abnormal preoperative nutritional values (albumin <3.5 g/dL, transferrin <200 mg/dL, and TLC <1.5 cells/μL³). Associations of comorbidities, American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification, and age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) with abnormal values were assessed with logistic regression.

Values were abnormal for albumin in 21 cases (2.6%), transferrin in 26 cases (5.6%), and TLC in 185 cases (25%). Thirteen cases (1.7%) had abnormal values for 2 markers. Age was associated with abnormal albumin and TLC, and race with abnormal transferrin. Congestive heart failure, chronic kidney disease, pancreatic insufficiency, gastroesophageal reflux disease, osteoporosis, dementia, and CCI were associated with abnormal albumin; Parkinson disease and American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status with abnormal transferrin; and dementia, body mass index, cancer history, and CCI with abnormal TLC.

We report low prevalence of and a low concordance rate among abnormal nutritional values before primary TJA. Our results suggest that routine testing of all healthy patients is not warranted before TJA.