Thirty-day morbidity and mortality following revision total shoulder arthroplasty in octogenarians

Octogenarians are at an increased risk of morbidity and mortality following various surgeries, but this has not yet been well explored in octogenarians undergoing revision total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA). Thus, the purpose of this study was to analyze whether octogenarians undergoing RTSA are at an increased risk of 30-day postoperative complications, readmissions, and mortality relative to the younger geriatric population.

Data of patients who underwent RTSA from 2013 to 2018 were obtained from a large de-identified database. Patients were divided into two cohorts: ages 65-79 and ages 80-89. Demographic data, comorbidities, and postoperative complications were collected and compared between the two cohorts. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed.

On bivariate analyses, patients aged 80-89 were more likely to develop pulmonary embolism (p = 0.014) and extended length of stay more than 3 days (p = 0.006) compared to the cohort aged 65-79. Following adjustment on multivariate analyses, 80-89 years old patients no longer had an increased likelihood of pulmonary embolism or extended length of stay compared to the 65-79 age group. Octogenarians were not found to have higher rates of 30-day readmissions (p = 0.782), mortality (p = 0.507), reoperation (p = 0.785), pneumonia (p = 0.417), urinary tract infection (p = 0.739), or sepsis (p = 0.464) compared to the cohort aged 65-79 following RTSA.

Age greater than 80 should not be used independently as a factor for evaluating whether a geriatric patient is a proper candidate for RTSA.