Postoperative Complications in Patients With Metabolic Syndrome Following Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty.

INTRODUCTION

Metabolic syndrome is associated with increased risk of postoperative complications following various orthopedic surgeries. This study looked to identify specific postoperative complications in these patients following unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA).

METHODS

Adult patients undergoing primary UKA were queried in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database from 2006-2019. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the simultaneous presence of hypertension, diabetes, and body mass index >30 kg/m. Two patient groups were categorized in this study: patients with metabolic syndrome and patients without metabolic syndrome. Baseline characteristics and postoperative outcomes were compared between the two cohorts with the use of bivariate and multivariate analyses.

RESULTS

In total, 10,557 patients underwent UKA. Of these, 9,511 patients (90.1%) did not have metabolic syndrome whereas 1,046 (9.9%) had metabolic syndrome. Following adjustment for potential confounding variables on multivariate analysis, metabolic syndrome patients had an increased risk of an extended length of stay greater than four days (OR 1.66; p=0.016) compared to patients without metabolic syndrome.

CONCLUSION

Metabolic syndrome was associated with an increased risk of extended length of stay greater than four days following UKA. Physicians should be prepared for this complication as well as others when discussing treatment with metabolic syndrome patients.