Optimizing patients prior to elective primary total joint arthroplasty is key to ensuring rapid postoperative recovery. While much attention has been directed toward medical management of recognized comorbid conditions, only recently has more attention been given to preoperative hydration status. The current study aimed to examine the association between preoperative dehydration and postoperative outcomes after THA and TKA.
Dehydration has long been established as a factor in recovery after several orthopedic surgeries [20, 21]. One small prospective study of 45 patients undergoing surgery for hip fracture used urine specific gravity upon arrival to the operating theater to quantify preoperative dehydration and found a quadrupled postoperative complication rate in the dehydrated group [22]. Another small study looking at only patients over 65 undergoing several different types of orthopedic surgery found similar results, including increased rates of readmission and overall mortality at 30 days [2].
In general, the association of preoperative hydration status with specific preoperative outcomes of THA and TKA have largely been unexamined. However, the role of hydration status in orthopedic surgical outcomes was more broadly assessed by both Ylinenvaara et al. and Chan et al. [12, 22]. Ylinenvaara et al. demonstrated that patients who were dehydrated were four times at the risk of experiencing an adverse postoperative outcome, and, more specifically, were more likely to have confusion, arterial desaturation and cardiovascular events. These conclusions were not supported by our findings. Chan et al., after examining the records of 216 patients, concluded that patients who had preoperative dehydration status were more likely to experience hematologic or gastrointestinal postoperative complications which is consistent with our finding of increased need for blood transfusion in both THA and TKA patients who were dehydrated prior to surgery [12]. The main difference between our study and the studies previously mentioned is that previous studies examined orthopedic surgeries more broadly, rather than patients specifically undergoing elective THA and TKA. Moreover, the mean age of study populations in Chan et al. [12] (81 years), and Ylinevaara et al. [22] (78 years), was not accounted for using multivariate analysis as it was in the present study. Accordingly, age and procedure type could have contributed to the differences these studies observed.
Based on univariate analyses, the current study found that both THA and TKA patients with preoperative dehydration were older, mostly female, and had a higher medical comorbidity burden than non-dehydrated patients. The above-noted findings align with previous literature that has demonstrated that dehydrated patients were, on average, older and more likely to be female than non-dehydrated patients [23]. Interestingly, those patients who were smokers were disproportionately more represented in the non-dehydrated group, a finding that may be partly explained by observations of altered creatine clearance in smokers [24, 25]. Based on multivariate analyses, the current study found that patients with preoperative dehydration undergoing both THA and TKA experienced reduced risk of postoperative complications within 30 days of surgery. For TKA in particular, they had slightly but significantly reduced risk of extended length of stay and were not more likely to require a blood transfusion. While the adjusted increase in relative risk was small, with large and increasing volume of THAs and TKAs being performed globally [26], this small difference at scale can be clinically significant.
For TKA and THA patients, the current study found that preoperative dehydration did not result in an appreciable elevation in the risk of complications. Of note, the sub-analysis conducted for patients within 24 h of surgery had a less statistical power and did not find any significant increase in complications, as patients undergoing laboratory testing within 24 h of surgery comprised only 4.5% of the overall study population. This should be taken into account when considering the generalizability of the results of the sub-analysis and highlights the need to conduct more regimented studies drawn at pre-defined intervals prior to surgery.
Recently, novel multi-modal approaches have been developed to try to reduce transfusions after total joint arthroplasty by optimizing preoperative hemoglobin, reducing perioperative blood loss, and imposing strict transfusion requirements. In one study of 1010 patients, the transfusion rate was reduced from 18 to 1.4% by applying these measures in addition to optimizing hydration prior to surgery [27]. In our study population, the transfusion rate was 5.6 and 3.4% in THA and TKA respectively, suggesting that further reduction is possible. One factor that might explain the high transfusion rates compared to contemporary rates is use of tranexamic acid (TXA). TXA’s use was not popularized in total joint arthroplasty in the most of the years of the study but is likely represented to a more appreciable degree during the last several years in the study [28].
More specific to total joint arthroplasties, a study by Mukand et al. [29] in 2003 examined the effects of dehydration on in-patient rehabilitation of patients who underwent THA, TKA, or had a hip fracture by using orthostasis and azotemia as metrics of dehydration. However, they found that, contrary to the present study, dehydrated patients were at a higher risk of having an extended length of hospital stay than non-dehydrated patients [29]. The inclusion of hip fracture patients may have confounded their analysis, as there is an increasing appreciation for the importance of indication in post-surgical outcomes, especially THA for hip fracture compared to elective THA [30]. Other recent studies using the NSIQP database have implicated longer-term measures of renal function, including estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as a proposed risk-stratification instrument after primary THA [31]. Similarly, eGFR has also been implicated as a marker for complications after revision TKA [32].
There were several limitations while conducting analysis for this study. To begin with, the reliability of findings obtained from large databases is often called into question. With regards to THAs in particular, a recent study demonstrated that when comparing the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) database to the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database, over half of the factors in demographics, comorbidities, and complications following THA differed significantly between the two databases [33]. Despite this, NSQIP data are chart-abstracted and undergo routine auditing, ultimately leading to its acceptance as the standard for database studies [34]. Another limitation to this study is the means by which hydration status was determined. Because the preoperative laboratory tests were often drawn outside of the 24 h before surgery, there was potential for patients’ hydration status to be corrected prior to surgery, and the observed outcomes were due to factors other than dehydration. Additionally, although BUN/Cr ratio is a validated metric of volume status in the literature [35], this definition of dehydration status may have contributed to an overestimation of the number of patients who were dehydrated prior to surgery. Finally, though BUN/Cr ratio is traditionally used as a marker of dehydration, it may also rise for other reasons. For example, urea may also rise in hypercatabolic states, with an upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and with high-dose glucocorticoid administration. Additionally, many patients undergoing THA and TKA for osteoarthritis are taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medications which can increase BUN and creatinine levels [36]. Because of this, it could be worth examining dehydration in future studies by using alternative metrics such as orthostasis or urine specific gravity.
Despite these limitations, this study of 188,629 patients undergoing THA demonstrated that dehydration status carries no independent risk of any postoperative complications and may correlate with a small but statistically significant reduction in extended length of hospital stay when compared to patients who met laboratory criteria for preoperative hydration. This study also demonstrated similar findings in 332,485 patients undergoing TKA. When laboratory values were limited to only those drawn just before surgery, there was no reduction in risk of extended LOS or readmission and dehydration did not increase risk of complications. Future studies should be conducted to characterize dehydration by alternative metrics that more closely assess hydration status, measuring hydration status at a time closer to surgery, and examining the role of hydration in different orthopedic procedures that may be more sensitive to preoperative hydration status.