October 16, 2024
1 min read
Key takeaways:
- Travel may not impact patient-reported outcomes or complications after total hip arthroplasty.
- Patients who traveled 40 miles or more had similar outcomes vs. patients who traveled fewer than 40 miles.
According to published results, patients who traveled 40 miles or more to undergo total hip arthroplasty had similar 90-day outcomes and complication rates compared with patients who traveled fewer than 40 miles for surgery.
Conor M. Jones, MD, and colleagues from the department of orthopedic surgery at Rush University Medical Center performed a retrospective study of data from 413 patients who underwent inpatient, primary THA at a single center between April 2017 and March 2021.
According to the study, Jones and colleagues classified patients who traveled 40 miles or more for surgery (n = 96) as “travelers” and patients who traveled fewer than 40 miles for surgery (n = 317) as “locals.” Mean driving distance was 96.1 miles (range, 40.1 to 678 miles) for travelers and 14.1 miles for locals (range, 0.3 miles to 39.8 miles).
Postoperative outcome measures included Veterans Rand 12-item health survey (VR-12), Hip Harris Score (HHS), Hip Dysfunction and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score for Joint Replacement (HOOS JR), complications, ED visits, readmissions and reoperations at a minimum follow-up of 90 days.
Overall, Jones and colleagues found no significant differences in postoperative VR-12, HHS or HOOS JR scores between travelers and locals. They also found no significant differences in the percentage of patients who achieved the minimal clinically important difference for VR-12, HHS and HOOS JR scores between travelers and locals.
At 90 days, rates of complications, readmissions and reoperations were similar between travelers and locals. However, Jones and colleagues noted locals had a significantly higher rate of unplanned ED visits compared with travelers (7.3% vs. 0%).
“THAs are increasingly being performed at high-volume centers, causing some patients to travel further distances to receive care,” Jones and colleagues wrote in the study.
“These data suggest that increased travel distance to treatment centers does not markedly impact outcomes following primary THA,” they concluded.
Sources/Disclosures
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Disclosures:
Jones reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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