The real time to surgery: Limited delay after medical optimization does not impact hip fracture surgery outcomes

Abstract

IntroductionCurrent U.S./Canadian guidelines recommend hip fracture surgery within 48 h of injury to decrease morbidity/mortality. Multiple studies have identified medical optimization as the key component of time to surgery, but have inherent bias as patients with multiple co-morbidities often take longer to optimize. This study aimed to evaluate time from medical optimization to surgery (TMOS) to determine if “real surgical delay” is associated with: 1) mortality and 2) complications for geriatric hip fracture patients. MethodsA retrospective chart review of geriatric hip fractures treated from 2015–2018 at a single, level-1 trauma center was conducted. Univariate logistic regression was performed to identify association between TMOS and post-operative complication rates. For mortality, the Wilcoxon test was used to compare TMOS for patients discharged following surgery to those who were not. ResultsA total of 884 hip fractures were treated operatively, with median TMOS 16.2 h (5.0–22.5, 1st-3rd quartiles). Univariate logistic regression models did not identify an association between TMOS and complication rates. For patients successfully discharged, median TMOS was 16.2 h (5.0–22.3, 1st-3rd quartiles). For the cohort of patients not successfully discharged, median TMOS was 19.1 h (10.1–25.9, 1st-3rd quartiles, p = 0.16). Conclusion“Real surgical delay”, or TMOS is not associated with increased complications or with inpatient mortality for geriatric hip fracture patients. With few exceptions, our institution adhered to the 48-hour time window from injury to hip surgery. We maintain the belief timely surgery following optimization plays a crucial role in the geriatric hip fracture patient outcomes.