Anticoagulant Medication in Endoprosthetically Treated Proximal Femur Fracture - Complications and Mortality Considering the Time of Treatment as a Quality Criterion

Abstract

Introduction

There is an international debate on the optimal time to surgery following hip fracture in older patients. Pre-existing anticoagulation seems to be a major concern when it comes to a delay in operative fracture treatment. The aim of this study was to examine complication and mortality rates for elderly anticoagulated hip fracture patients considering early (< 24 h) vs. delayed (> 24 h) surgery.

Patients and Methods

Our Analysis is based on data of the external inpatient quality assurance of North Rhine Westphalia as the most populous German federal state. We identified 13,201 hip fracture patients with antithrombotic medication and a minimum age of 65 years treated from January 2015 to December 2017.

Results

Delayed surgery was associated with significantly higher rates of general and surgical complications as well as mortality. Except for pre-existing heart failure, we were not able to identify certain comorbidities that could clearly indicate, why there might have been a delay.

Conclusion

In most cases, patients with antithrombotic medication have a poor outcome to be expected due to serious comorbidity. If there was a delay in surgery for those patients, treatment results were even worse. Thus, surgery with a delay of > 24 h must be avoided to reduce the risk of complications.

Keywords

hip fracture - anticoagulants - hip arthroplasty - time to surgery - fragility fracture

Publication History

Received: 23 September 2023

Accepted after revision: 12 May 2024

Article published online:
18 June 2024

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