Following total hip replacement, septic hip arthritis linked to higher risk of periprosthetic joint infection

BALTIMORE: According to a study that was published in The Journal of Arthroplasty, there is a substantial risk of periprosthetic joint infection post total hip arthroplasty if there has been less than a one-year interval of quiescence following septic arthritis of the hip.

Each year, 20,000 people are given the diagnosis of septic arthritis, with 15% of those cases especially impacting the hip joint. These circumstances aggravate arthritic changes, frequently necessitating a total hip replacement (THA). These patients are more likely to develop periprosthetic joint infections as a result of their past infection history (PJIs).

The authors aimed to compare a group of THA patients without a history of septic hip to individuals who were diagnosed with septic hip arthritis at intervals (0 to 6, or 6 to 12 months) before an ipsilateral initial THA. They specifically evaluated (1) PJI-related changes from 90 days to 2 years and (2) risk variables for PJI at 2 years.

For this objective, A national, all-payer database was searched to find all patients who underwent a primary THA between 2010 and 2021, and patients who had previously experienced ipsilateral septic hip arthritis were identified (n = 1,052) using codes from the International Classification of Disease and Current Practice Terminology. As a non-septic group comparison, a randomized sample of patients (n = 5000) who had never previously experienced septic arthritis was used. The occurrences of PJI at 90 days through two years were then determined and compared using bivariate chi-square analysis. Multivariate regression models were then used to examine risk factors for post-THA PJIs.