Is Obesity Associated with Higher Complication Rates in Total Hip Arthroplasty for High-Riding Dysplastic Hips?

Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a disabling pathology leading to hip problems, such as painful arthritic hip, unstable hip, etc. Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is an effective treatment modality for this condition. Obesity has been shown to be associated with increased rates of complications following orthopaedic surgeries (Journal of Arthroplasty 20:46-50). The hypothesis of this study was that patients with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 (obese), who undergo total hip arthroplasty for dysplastic hip, are associated with longer operative and anaesthetic times, longer hospital stays and higher re-admission rates within 30 days.

All the cases of total hip arthroplasty in patients with high-riding dysplastic hips were reviewed. Evaluation was made of a total of 68 patients comprising 64 females and 4 males, classified into two groups. Patients with BMI < 30 kg/m² formed the non-obese group and patients with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m² the obese group.

The mean age was 44.67 ± 6.49 years. BMI was < 30 in 44 (64.7%) patients and > 30 in 24 (35.3%) patients. The data analysis showed that mean surgical time, anaesthesia duration and re-admission rate were significantly higher in the group with BMI ≥ 30(obese) as compared to the group with BMI < 30 (non-obese) (p < 0.01). The complication rate was determined to be higher in the obese group (p < 0.05).

Obese patients performed with total hip arthroplasty for high-riding dysplastic hips had more complications and higher rates of re-admission to hospital compared with the non-obese patients.