Preoperative COVID-19 infection increases risk for 60-day complications following total shoulder arthroplasty: a propensity-matched analysis

Total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) is an effective treatment for a wide range of shoulder pathologies. Literature investigating the impact of COVID-19 diagnosis on outcomes following TSA is limited. The objective of this study was to perform a retrospective multi-institutional database analysis to investigate the association between preoperative COVID-19 diagnosis and 60-day complications following TSA. We queried the TriNetX database using Current Procedural Terminology and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes for patients who underwent a TSA from January 1, 2018 to July 1, 2023. Patients were categorized by those who had and those who did not have a diagnosis of COVID-19 within 30 days prior to surgery. The cohorts were matched based on age, gender, ethnicity, race, and past medical history. Chi-square analysis was performed to determine the relationship between COVID-19 diagnosis and 60-day postoperative complications including pneumonia, sepsis, emergency department (ED) visit, hospital admission, mortality, periprosthetic fracture, superficial wound infection, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), acute myocardial infarction, and revision surgery. The search results identified a total 63,768 patients who met study criteria. Of these patients, 7118 (11.08%) were diagnosed with COVID-19 within 30 days prior to their TSA procedure. Propensity score matching resulted in 6982 patients in each of the 2 cohorts. Patients with a recent COVID-19 diagnosis prior to surgery had 1.96 (P = .0005) times the odds of sepsis, 1.42 (P = .0032) times the odds of superficial wound infections, 1.42 (P