Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Mar 1;30(1):42-49.
doi: 10.5792/ksrr.17.052.

Seasonal Influence on Postoperative Complications after Total Knee Arthroplasty

Azeem Tariq Malik  1 , Shahid Khan Azmat  2 , Arif Ali  2 , Syed Hamza Mufarrih  2 , Shahryar Noordin  2
Affiliations

Seasonal Influence on Postoperative Complications after Total Knee Arthroplasty

Azeem Tariq Malik et al. Knee Surg Relat Res. .

Abstract

Purpose: This study is aimed at investigating whether inpatient complications and surgical site infections (SSIs) occurred more commonly in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) during the summer season.

Materials and methods: A total of 725 patients who underwent unilateral or bilateral TKA were included in this study. A total of 241 patients (33.2%) underwent TKA between May and August. Our outcomes of interest were the incidence of postoperative complications and length of stay.

Results: May-August surgeries were associated with a higher risk of postoperative inpatient complications (p=0.003). May-August surgeries (odds ratio [OR], 2.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18 to 3.85), postoperative transfusion (OR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.43 to 4.26), postoperative special care unit stay (OR, 4.68; 95% CI, 1.99 to 11.0) and chronic kidney disease (OR, 3.27; 95% CI, 1.15 to 9.28) were associated with a higher odds of developing inpatient complications. No association was present between summer surgeries and SSIs (p=0.486).

Conclusions: The results of this study show that overall complication rates following TKA exhibit a seasonal trend, with a peak during the summer months. These results may have some implication in clinical practice and stricter approaches to hospital guidelines during the summer months.

Keywords: Arthroplasty; Complication; Knee; Season.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart showing extraction of data.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Graph showing percentage of complications per month over a 10 year period.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anderson JG, Wixson RL, Tsai D, Stulberg SD, Chang RW. Functional outcome and patient satisfaction in total knee patients over the age of 75. J Arthroplasty. 1996;11:831–40. doi: 10.1016/S0883-5403(96)80183-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hawker G, Wright J, Coyte P, Paul J, Dittus R, Croxford R, Katz B, Bombardier C, Heck D, Freund D. Health-related quality of life after knee replacement. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1998;80:163–73. doi: 10.2106/00004623-199802000-00003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fortin PR, Clarke AE, Joseph L, Liang MH, Tanzer M, Ferland D, Phillips C, Partridge AJ, Bélisle P, Fossel AH, Mahomed N, Sledge CB, Katz JN. Outcomes of total hip and knee replacement: preoperative functional status predicts outcomes at six months after surgery. Arthritis Rheum. 1999;42:1722–8. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(199908)42:8<1722::AID-ANR22>3.0.CO;2-R. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dasenbrock HH, Clarke MJ, Thompson RE, Gokaslan ZL, Bydon A. The impact of July hospital admission on outcome after surgery for spinal metastases at academic medical centers in the United States, 2005 to 2008. Cancer. 2012;118:1429–38. doi: 10.1002/cncr.26347. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Englesbe MJ, Pelletier SJ, Magee JC, Gauger P, Schifftner T, Henderson WG, Khuri SF, Campbell DA. Seasonal variation in surgical outcomes as measured by the American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) Ann Surg. 2007;246:456–62. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e31814855f2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources