Key result
Anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgery in elderly patients was associated with a 31.8% rate of intraoperative complications, predominantly arterial hypotension (22%), and a 1.5% mortality rate.
Why the study?
Peri-anaesthetic management of elderly patients differs from younger patients, motivating an assessment of morbidity, mortality, and associated factors during orthopaedic surgery anaesthesia at Monkole Hospital.
Cross-Sectional (n=132)
No
In a low-income setting, anaesthesia for elderly orthopaedic patients is associated with a 31.8% intraoperative complication rate, predominantly arterial hypotension, and a 1.5% mortality rate.
High complication rates in low-income elderly orthopaedic anaesthesia warrant vigilance; leaves open prospective validation of modifiable risks.
Background and Objective: The peri-anaesthetic management of an elderly patient is significantly different from that of a young patient. This study was conducted to determine the morbidity and mortality of elderly patients undergoing anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgery at Monkole Hospital and the factors associated with it. Methods: This cross-sectional, single-centre study was carried out at Monkole Hospital from 01 January 2011 to 31 December 2022. It included all patients aged at least 60 years who underwent anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgery. The sample used was exhaustive, based on a patient register. Peri-anaesthetic data were collected ethically up to hospital discharge and analysed with SPSS 26.0 for p Results: Out of 1637 anaesthetised orthopaedic patients, a sample of 132 was collected including 69 men (52.3%) and 63 women (47.7%), with a sex ratio M/F of 1.09 with a mean age of 68.5 ± 6.9. BMI was normal in 46.2% of patients, obesity in 28%, cardiovascular (64.4%) and renal-metabolic (38.6%) co-morbidities predominated, thrombo-embolic risk was present in 83.3%, ASA class was 2 (69.7%), 3 and 1 (15.2% each). The surgical procedures were often major, including hip (25.7%) and knee (11.3%) replacements, and osteosynthesis with (18.9%) or without an external fixator (12.1%). Patients transfused intraoperatively had significantly lower haemoglobin levels than those who were not transfused (p Conclusion: Although in a low-income country, anaesthesia of the elderly in orthopaedic surgery appears to be frequent with few complications dominated by arterial hypotension probably linked to the frequent use of perimedullary anaesthesia.
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Kintieti et al. (2025) conducted a cross-sectional in Orthopaedic surgery in elderly patients (n=132). Orthopaedic surgery under anaesthesia was evaluated on Intraoperative complications. Anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgery in elderly patients was associated with a 31.8% rate of intraoperative complications, predominantly arterial hypotension (22%), and a 1.5% mortality rate.
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