Where There’s Smoke, There’s Hip and Knee Complications (written by Biloine Young @ OTW)
In one of the largest studies ever conducted to measure the effect of smoking on post operative orthopedic complications, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham assessed the effects of cigarette smoking on 33,336 patients, 30 days after elective total hip or total knee replacement surgery.
No surprise, smokers who have total knee or hip replacement surgeries are at a significant risk of 30-day postoperative complications and/or death at one year. But what really hit home were these statistics:
53% greater chance of infection
161% greater chance of stroke
63% greater chance of 1-year mortality
34% greater chance of pneumonia
The study was published online July 18 by Arthritis Care & Research.
Jasvinder A. Singh, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues looked at both smokers and non-smokers. Of the 33,336 patients, 24% were current smokers, 19% were prior smokers and 57% had never smoked. The time period for the study was between 2001 and 2008. Eighty percent of the patients were Caucasian and 95 percent were male, with an average age...
