Dr. Browne and Associates presented an award winning paper at the Knee Society Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana 03/15/2014 looking at the effect of morbid obesity on complications after knee replacement. They used a nation wide inpatient sample database to identify patients undergoing primary knee replacement from October 2005 to December 2008. Morbid obesity was defined as a Body Mass Index over 40. Of the 1,777,068 primary total knees 98,410 or 5.5% of patients were categorized as morbidly obese. These individuals had a statistically higher risk of postoperative in-hospital wound complications including infection, and higher risk for anemia and renal complications. They also noted that morbidly obese patients were at a significantly higher risk of in-hospital death following total knee replacement compared to non-obese patients. They concluded that morbid obesity by itself appears to be associated with a higher risk for complications following total knee replacement. They also noted that comorbidities that are often associated with obesity including diabetes and hypertension appear to be responsible for some of the increased risks of complication following surgery. They also noted that morbid obesity appears to be associated with higher costs, longer length of stay, and a lower rate of discharge home after knee replacement surgery.
