Association between frailty and clinical post-operative outcomes in patients following hip arthroplasty: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose This research determined the correlation between frailty and post-surgical complications, readmission, re-operation, and mortality in patients with hip arthroplasty through a meta-analysis. Methods We screened PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for cohort research that explored the correlation between frailty and post-operative complications in patients who underwent hip arthroplasty from inception to August 31, 2022. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was employed to assess the value of the involved studies. Statistical analyses of the meta-analysis were conducted utilizing Review Manager, version 5.3. Results This research involved seven retrospective investigations involving 350,971 patients. The summed findings revealed that frailty is associated with total complications (relative risk [ RR ] = 3.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.99–4.74), re-operation ( RR = 1.98; 95% CI: 1.73–2.28), readmission ( RR = 2.04; 95% CI: 1.87–2.22), and 30-day mortality ( RR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.16–5.79). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses revealed that the pooled findings of frailty predict that total complications, re-operation, readmission, and 30-day mortality were stable. Conclusions Pre-operative frailty was correlated with post-surgical complications in patients who underwent hip arthroplasty, including post-operative complications, re-operation, readmission, and 30-day mortality. Systematic review registration PROSPERO, identifier: CRD 42022350781