Preoperative serum albumin as a predictor of complications following total hip replacement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by polyarthritis with progressive articular wear, immunologic abnormalities and increasing physical limitation. Surgical correction with hip replacement comes as a successful solution for patients with advanced articular destruction. Following intervention, surgical site infection (SSI), venous thromboembolism, sepsis, renal and major cardiovascular complications are among the most cited in the literature. No consensus exists as to the detection of preoperative hypoalbuminemia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

METHODS: This study retrospectively evaluated the preoperative serum albumin of 75 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and analyzed its relevance in terms of appearance of postoperative complications with a six-month follow-up. Complications in the group of patients with low serum albumin and the group of patients with normal serum albumin were reviewed to identify the effect of each variable. Odds ratio for each variable was calculated (hospital readmission, surgical site infection, renal and cardiac complications, non-infectious wound complications and the presence of residual hip pain), as well as p-value and confidence intervals.

RESULTS: Surgical site infection showed a statistically significant relation with low serum albumin (OR: 6.125, p = 0.018) as did non-infectious wound complications (OR: 3.714, p = 0.026) and residual hip pain (OR: 3.149, p = 0.022).

CONCLUSION: Preoperative low serum albumin has a direct relation with the rate of postoperative complications including SSI, non-infectious wound complications (seroma formation, wound dehiscence) and residual hip pain. Preoperative serum albumin is a reliable marker of nutrition, which may establish preventive strategies to reduce postoperative complications in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.