Severe cirrhosis is associated with increased surgical mortality and morbidities in patients with hip fractures: a propensity-score matched analysis using a large inpatient database

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to compare postoperative mortality and morbidities in patients with hip fractures undergoing surgery by Child-Pugh classes. Summary Background Data Advanced cirrhosis is associated with increased mortality in several types of surgery, but the impact of severity of cirrhosis on postoperative outcomes in patients with hip fractures remain unclear. Methods We analyzed data of patients with hip fracture within a large inpatient database. We performed three sets of 1:1 propensity-score matching for four groups: cases without cirrhosis, and Child-Pugh classes A, B and C. We compared in-hospital mortality, length of stay, hospitalization fee, rate of 30-day readmission and complications in the following three pairs: cases without cirrhosis vs Child-Pugh class A, Child-Pugh class A vs B, and Child-Pugh class B vs C. Results Among 833,648 eligible cases, propensity-score matching created 1,065 pairs between cases without cirrhosis vs Child-Pugh class A, 1,012 pairs between Child-Pugh class A vs B, and 489 pairs between Child-Pugh class B vs C. In-hospital mortality did not differ between cases with cirrhosis and those with Child-Pugh A classification (1.69% vs 1.41%; RD -0.28%; 95% CI: -1.34%–0.78%). In-hospital mortality was significantly higher in patients with Child-Pugh B classification than in those with A classification (1.48% vs 5.93%; RD 4.45%; 95% CI: 2.79%–6.10%), and in those with Child-Pugh C classification compared with those with B classification (6.34% vs 28.43%; RD 22.09%; 95% CI: 17.54%–26.63%). Among cases with cirrhosis, those in more severe Child-Pugh classes had longer length of stay, higher hospitalization fees and higher ratio of complications, such as acute liver failure, upper gastrointestinal bleeding and sepsis. Conclusions Our results could help to identify patients at high-risk of postoperative mortality and morbidity among those with both hip fracture and cirrhosis. Patients with Child-Pugh C classification may benefit from discussions about nonsurgical management, goals of care, and overall prognosis. Mini-abstract We conducted propensity-score matched analysis to examine mortality of groups of patients with hip fractures in a national patient database according to degree of severity of cirrhosis. Patients with higher Child-Pugh class of cirrhosis was shown to be associated with higher mortality.