Mortality Drops for Joint Replacement

It is a lot safer getting a hip or knee replacement now than it was 20 years ago, according to a study by Dutch researchers of the experience in Denmark. Overall, the death rate in the two months after surgery fell from about 3.4% each year between 1989 and 1991 to 1.4% per year between 2003 and 2007. The length of time the patients stayed in the hospital following their surgery also dropped—from more than two weeks, to about one week.

Amy Norton, of HealthDay Reporter, wrote that the lead researcher, Arief Lalmohamed, PharmD, of the Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Netherlands, attributed the drop in deaths to new blood-thinning medications that help prevent patients from developing potentially dangerous blood clots after surgery. Also significant is the fact that patients start physical therapy much sooner than they did in the past.

While the study was based on data from only one country Lalmohamed said he expected to see a similar pattern in other countries that, over the years, made the same changes in medical care as had Denmark. In the United States, more than 1 million people have a hip or knee replacement each year, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Richard Iorio, chief of adult reconstruction at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City, said “We get people out of bed and moving on the first day after, or on the day of, surgery.” That mobility is important, he said, because it lowers patients’ risk of developing blood clots. He added that doctors also have gotten better at managing the chronic health conditions that many patients have. That, in turn, lowers the risk of complications.

Iorio, who was not involved in the study, agreed that the drop in mortalities trend would be similar in the United States.