Aspiration pneumonia and anesthesia techniques in hip fracture surgery in elderly patients: A retrospective cohort study using administrative data

Comparing perioperative outcomes between regional anesthesia and general anesthesia in patients undergoing hip fracture surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE

Nearly all patients with hip fractures undergo surgical treatment. The use of different anesthesia techniques during surgery may influence the clinical outcomes. The optimal anesthetic technique for patients undergoing hip fracture surgery is still controversial. We performed this updated systematic review and meta-analysis to compare clinical outcomes of patients undergoing hip fracture surgery with different anesthesia techniques.

SOURCE

Articles published from 2000 to May 2023 were included from MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. We included randomized controlled trials and observational studies comparing general anesthesia (GA) with regional anesthesia (RA) for the outcomes of 30-day mortality, 90-day mortality, in-hospital mortality, perioperative complications, length of hospital stay, and length of surgery in patients undergoing hip fracture surgery. Subgroup analyses were performed for the outcomes based on study design (randomized controlled trials or observational studies). We used a random-effects model for all analyses.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

In this meta-analysis, we included 12 randomized controlled trials. There was no difference in postoperative 30-day mortality between the two groups (odds ratio [OR], 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44 to 1.74; I2 = 0%). The incidence of intraoperative hypotension was lower in patients who received RA vs GA (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.72; I2 = 0%). No significant differences were observed in 90-day mortality, in-hospital mortality, postoperative delirium, pneumonia, myocardial infarction, venous thromboembolism, length of surgery, and length of hospital stay.

CONCLUSION

In this updated systematic review and meta-analysis, RA did not reduce postoperative 30-day mortality in hip fracture surgery patients compared to GA. Fewer patients receiving RA had intraoperative hypotension than those receiving GA did. Apart from intraoperative hypotension, the data showed no differences in complications between the two anesthetic techniques.

STUDY REGISTRATION

PROSPERO (CRD42023411854); registered 7 April 2023.

Effects of general and spinal anesthesia on postoperative rehabilitation in older adults after lower limb surgery: a retrospective cohort study

Objective

To investigate the effects of perioperative general anesthesia (GA) and spinal anesthesia (SA) on postoperative rehabilitation in elderly patients with lower limb surgery.

Methods

This retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study included patients aged 65 years or older who underwent lower limb surgery between January 1, 2020, and May 31, 2023. The GA and SA were selected at the request of the orthopedic surgeon, patient, and their family members. The main outcomes included the incidence of the patient's inability to self-care at discharge, postoperative complications including pulmonary infection, thrombus of lower extremity veins, infection of incisional wound and delirium, length of hospital stay, and incidence of severe pain in the first 2 days postoperatively.

Results

In total, 697 patients met the inclusion criteria, and 456 were included in the final analysis after propensity score matching. In the GA and SA groups, 27 (11.84%) and 26 (11.40%) patients, respectively, could not care for themselves at discharge. The incidence rates did not differ between the groups (p = 0.884). In contrast, the incidence of postoperative complications (GA: 10.53% and SA: 4.39%; p = 0.013) and the length of hospital stay (GA: 16.92 ± 10.65 days and SA: 12.75 ± 9.15 days; p < 0.001) significantly differed between the groups.

Conclusion

The choice of anesthesia is independent of the loss of postoperative self-care ability in older patients (>65 years) and is not a key factor affecting postoperative rehabilitation after lower limb surgery. However, compared with GA, SA reduces the incidence of postoperative complications and a prolonged hospital stay. Thus, SA as the primary anesthetic method is a protective factor against a prolonged hospital stay.

The Incidence of Acute Respiratory Infection Was Higher in the Older Adults with Lower Limb Fracture Who Receive Spinal Anesthesia Than Those Who Receive General Anesthesia

INTRODUCTION

Acute respiratory infection (ARI) can significantly reduce postoperative quality of life and impair the recovery of older adult patients with lower-limb fractures, and its relationship with methods of anesthesia remains inconclusive. Using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan, this study examined the data of patients who received surgical management for lower-limb fractures and compared those who underwent general anesthesia (GA) with those who underwent regional anesthesia (RA) in terms of their incidence of acute upper and lower respiratory infection during the one-month postoperative period. The study also identified related risk factors.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Approximately two million patients were randomly sampled from the NHIRD registry. We identified and enrolled patients with lower-limb fractures who were over 60 years old and underwent GA or RA during surgeries conducted between 2010 and 2017. We divided these patients into two groups for further analysis. The outcome of this study was the development of ARI during the one-month postoperative period.

RESULTS

In total, 45,032 patients (GA group, 19,580 patients; RA group, 25,452 patients) with a mean age of 75.0 ± 8.9 years were included in our study. The incidence of postoperative ARI within one month of surgery was 8.0% (1562 patients) in the GA group and 9.5% (2412 patients) in the RA group, revealing a significant difference. The significant risk factors for the incidence of ARI were the application of RA for surgery, older age, hypertension, liver disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A subgroup analysis revealed that the RA method was associated with a significantly higher ARI incidence relative to the GA method among patients aged between 60 and 80 years, among male patients, among the patients with or without any comorbidity and among the patients without COPD.

CONCLUSION

The incidence of postoperative ARI within one month of surgery was higher among older patients with lower-limb fractures who received RA for surgery than among those who received GA for surgery. The other major risk factors for ARI were older age, hypertension, liver disease, and COPD. Therefore, we should focus on patients with a high risk of developing ARI, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.