Hips ops for people in their 90s have similar outcomes to those in younger people

 Total hip replacement operations in people in their 90s have comparable outcomes to when younger people have the surgery, says an orthopaedic surgeon from the US, Dr Alexander Miric.

The results of hip replacement surgery in 183 people who were aged at least 90 years were compared to the results of more than 43,000 other total hip replacement surgeries performed on younger people aged younger than 80 years and 80–89 years over a 10-year period. They compared length of the hospital stay, complications after surgery, death rates and readmissions to the hospital up to 90 days after the surgery.

None of the group aged over 89 years had serious blood clots; unlike those aged 80–89 (1.2%). And the oldest group did not have the highest rates of infection.

Although the oldest had the highest death rates within the 90-day follow-up period (2.7% compared with 1.3% for people aged 80–89 years and 0.2% for people under 80 years), this is in line within expectations because of their advanced age and fragility.

The oldest patients stayed in hospital slightly longer (average 3.4 days compared to 2.8 days for the youngest group and 3.3 days for those aged 80–89 years) and were more likely to be readmitted within the three months after the surgery.

“Our data show that [older] patients have the ability to do better than we expected,” Dr Miric says. “Being in your 90s need not disqualify you from having a hip replacement surgery.”

His study was presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons but has not yet been published in a journal so should be viewed as preliminary.