Inpatient and Daycase Costs for Infection after Primary Hip Replacement

Description

Michael Whitehouse discusses a matched cohort study analyzing the costs associated with infected joint replacements. He outlines his role in the National Joint Registry's statistical analysis team and clarifies potential conflicts of interest. The research, funded by NIHR, incorporates various work packages examining multiple facets of care for patients with infected joint replacements, and the findings were published in BMC Medicine in 2020. Whitehouse explains the methodologies used in the study, including different matching strategies (exact and radius matching) to align patients who underwent primary joint replacement procedures with those who had infections requiring revisions. The analysis covered a five-year period post-primary procedure, comparing costs incurred from both groups, revealing significant financial disparities between infected and non-infected patients—after five years, the average cost for revised PJI cases was 41,633 pounds compared to 8,181 pounds for non-revised cases. He highlights the importance of addressing the high costs linked to PJI, emphasizing the necessity to minimize infection rates due to their profound impact on both patient well-being and healthcare expenditure.

DOI: 10.1302/3114-221443

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