Malnutrition is associated with postoperative complications in elderly patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty

Malnutrition in elderly patients with hip fracture has been described as a factor associated with poor outcomes. This evidence for elderly patients undergoing elective total hip arthroplasty (THA) for osteoarthritis is not well-established.

We retrospectively studied a cohort of patients with an age ≥65 years admitted to the hospital for THA between January 2018 and December 2020. Demographic characteristics were collected. Albumin and total lymphocyte count were included in the pre-operative analysis and 24h postoperatively. Nutritional screening was carried out 24h postoperatively. GLIM criteria were applied for the diagnosis of malnutrition.

25 patients out of the total cohort of 65 (38.4%) were malnourished. Five out of six patients (83.3%) with postoperative complications presented malnutrition compared with 20 of 59 patients (33.8%) without postoperative complications (P=0.028). Mean length of stay (LOS) was 3.49±0.88 days. Five out of six (83.3%) patients with postoperative complications presented LOS >3 days compared with one out of six patients (16.6%) with LOS ≤3 days (P=0.009). 26 patients (40%) were referred to a community health centre, no differences in diagnosis of malnutrition were detected compared with patients who were discharged home. Patients with a diagnosis of malnutrition were significantly older, had a lower body mass index (BMI), a lower preoperative and postoperative albumin and worse anthropometric parameters.

Malnutrition is associated with postoperative complications and longer LOS in elderly patients with elective THA. Risk factors for malnutrition are older age and low BMI.