The study included data from 81,856 patients who underwent total knee replacement and 106,254 patients who underwent total hip replacement, found through the Australian Orthopaedic Joint Replacement Registry and the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register. Patients were also between 50 and 80 years of age and had osteoarthritis.
According to the study, the risk of mortality was estimated to be 0.1 percent. The study found that the increase in mortality was the highest immediately following the operation and then was negligible 26 days after.
The study found the most important risk factors for increased early postoperative mortality were male gender and age of older than 70 years.
“This very low postoperative mortality after hip and knee replacements should be reassuring for patients considering these surgeries,” study co-author Lars B. Engesaeter, MD, PhD, and head of the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register, said in the release.
Read the AAOS release on the low risk of mortality after hip and knee replacement.
