Perioperative complications of legally blind patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty – A national in-patient sample database study

Legally blind patients are more prone to injury-related falls, which may lead to hip fractures, often necessitating total hip arthroplasty (THA), as a corrective procedure. Many of these patients have unique medical needs and have increased rates of perioperative complications following surgical procedures. However, there is limited information on the hospitalization data and perioperative complications in this population following guidelines such as THA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patient characteristics, demographics, and prevalence of perioperative issues among THA patients who were legally blind. Using 2016–2019 data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the incidence of perioperative complications, length of stay (LOS), and the cost of care (COC) among patients undergoing THA who were categorized as legally blind patients, compared to those who were not were analyzed. Propensity matching was conducted to consider associated factors that may influence perioperative complications. From 2016 to 2019, 367,856 patients underwent THA, according to the NIS. Of those, 322 (0.1%) patients were categorized as legally blind, and the remaining 367,534 (99.9%) patients were not identified as legally blind (control). Legally blind patients were significantly younger than the control group (65.4 years vs. 66.7 years, p