Perioperative Outcomes of Total Hip Arthroplasty in Trisomy 21 Patients in Comparison With a Control Population: Analysis From a Large National Sample of 367,894 Patients

Literature on the outcomes of total hip arthroplasty (THA) has established the procedure as a gold standard for hip arthritis. However, postoperative outcomes after THA in specific conditions such as Down's syndrome (DS) have been sparsely described. This large database analysis of over 367,000 patients was aimed at evaluating the immediate postoperative results including morbidity and mortality rates after THA among DS patients and comparing these with a control population. Data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) was reviewed retrospectively from 2016 to 2019 on THAs. Among 367,894 patients, 129 were identified with a diagnosis of DS. Complex primaries and revisions were excluded. Demographics, admission details, and perioperative variables including morbidity and mortality rates were compared between DS patients and controls. Patients with DS were younger than the control population (43.3 versus 65.9 years, p=0.002), had a greater preponderance of men, had a lower incidence of smoking and diabetes, and had a relatively higher incidence of non-elective THA. The former also had a longer mean length of stay (LoS) and higher mean costs to healthcare. Two patients with DS died after a THA, making the mortality rate 17-fold higher in DS patients. Higher rates of postoperative anemia (31.8% versus 19.6%, p