Abstract
n analysis on prospective data on our hip database was carried out on all patients undergoing primary cemented unilateral total hip arthroplasty. There were 1,220 non-diabetic and 77 diabetic patients identified with at least three years follow-up. We found no significant difference with respect to age, sex and diagnosis between the two groups. Diabetic patients did have a significantly higher body mass index (BMI) and higher incidence of coronary artery disease. We found no increase in the rate of deep periprosthetic infection, superficial wound complications, dislocation, blood loss and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) between patients with and without diabetes even after adjusting for potential confounders. Diabetic patients had a longer length of stay (10.73 versus 9.56 days, p<0.05). Further analysis of the diabetic group showed no difference, with the same outcomes in patients between insulin-dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetic subsets. From this study we conclude that at the time of taking informed consent from patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty the only potential difference between those with and without diabetes is that the length of stay may be longer for patients with diabetes. Br J Diabetes Vasc Dis 2005;
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