Abstract
PURPOSE OF STUDY
We investigated the effect of weekend knee arthroplasty surgery on length of inpatient stay.
METHODS
341 consecutive patients undergoing primary total knee replacement were retrospectively identified. Of these 62 underwent surgery during the weekend. Length of inpatient stay, age, sex, pre-operative haemoglobin, ASA rating, and day of surgery were recorded. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the effect of these preoperative factors on length of post-operative inpatient stay.
RESULTS
The mean length of stay following primary knee replacement was 5.9 days, with a median 4 days (2-31). Multivariate analysis confirmed that age at operation, sex, pre-operative haemoglobin and ASA were predictive of length of stay following knee arthroplasty. The day of the operation was not predictive of length of post operative stay.
DISCUSSION
The results from this study suggest age, sex, ASA and preoperative haemoglobin are predictive of inpatient hospital stay. This is consistent with previous published data. Day of surgery was not predictive of length of stay. Our results suggest that weekend knee arthroplasty surgery does not result in an increased length of inpatient stay.
