Determining the risk of acute kidney injury in patients who underwent total joint replacement: A retrospective study

Objectives Total joint replacement (TJR) is a commonly performed procedure worldwide, and postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the complications that determine the overall prognosis in various surgical settings. We aimed to identify the risk of AKI after TJR (primary and revision) and determine the factors associated with postoperative AKI. Methods We performed a retrospective study of 1068 patients (>18 years) who underwent TJR between 2014 and 2019 at a tertiary medical center. Patients’ demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were reviewed. Results A total of 1068 patients were included in this study [mean age, 60.5 ± 13 years; 260 men (24.3%); 808 women (75.7%)]. A total of 962 patients (90.1%) underwent primary joint replacement (PJR) and 106 underwent joint revision (9.9%). Sixty-six patients (6.2%) had postoperative AKI. Primary total hip replacement patients had a lower risk of AKI than patients with other types of TJR (3.0%; p = 0.024). The factors associated with AKI (adjusting for known confounders) included male gender [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.751; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01–3.03; p = 0.046], diabetes mellitus (DM) [AOR: 2.806; 95% CI: 1.687–5.023; p ≤ 0.001], hypertension (HTN) [AOR: 1.751; 95% CI: 1.159–3.442; p = 0.013], and the use of vancomycin as a prophylactic antibiotic [AOR: 1.691; 95% CI: 1.1–2.913; p = 0.050]. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) [AOR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.432–2.27; p = 0.981] was not found to be a significant risk factor. Conclusion In this study, the risk of preoperative AKI in patients who underwent TJR was 6.2%. Male gender, preoperative comorbidities such as DM and HTN, and preoperative use of vancomycin were associated with increased risk of postoperative AKI.