title: General compared with spinal anesthesia for total hip arthroplasty.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Total hip arthroplasty may be performed under general or spinal anesthesia. The purpose of the current study was to compare perioperative outcomes between anesthetic types for patients undergoing primary elective total hip arthroplasty.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who had undergone primary elective total hip arthroplasty from 2010 to 2012 were identified from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Operating room times, length of stay, thirty-day adverse events, and readmission were compared between patients who had received general anesthesia and those who had received spinal anesthesia. Propensity-adjusted multivariate analysis was used to control for selection bias and baseline patient characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 20,936 patients who had undergone total hip arthroplasty met inclusion criteria for this study. Of these, 12,752 patients (60.9%) had received general anesthesia and 8184 patients (39.1%) had received spinal anesthesia. On propensity-adjusted multivariate analyses, general anesthesia for total hip arthroplasty was associated with increased operative time (+12 minutes [95% confidence interval, +11 to +13 minutes]; p < 0.001) and postoperative room time (+5 minutes [95% confidence interval, +4 to +6 minutes]; p < 0.001). General anesthesia was also associated with the occurrence of any adverse event (odds ratio, 1.31 [95% confidence interval, 1.23 to 1.41]; p < 0.001), prolonged postoperative ventilator use (odds ratio, 5.81 [95% confidence interval, 1.35 to 25.06]; p = 0.018), unplanned intubation (odds ratio, 2.17 [95% confidence interval, 1.11 to 4.29]; p = 0.024), stroke (odds ratio, 2.51 [95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 6.20]; p = 0.046), cardiac arrest (odds ratio, 5.04 [95% confidence interval, 1.15 to 22.07]; p = 0.032), any minor adverse event (odds ratio, 1.35 [95% confidence interval, 1.25 to 1.45]; p = 0.001), and blood transfusion (odds ratio, 1.34 [95% confidence interval, 1.25 to 1.45]; p < 0.001). General anesthesia was not associated with any difference in preoperative room time, postoperative length of stay, or readmission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  General anesthesia was associated with an increased rate of adverse events and mildly increased operating room times.
authors: Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Yale University School of Medicine, 800 Howard Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510. E-mail address for J.N. Grauer: jonathan.grauer@yale.edu.
authors: Bryce A
authors: BA
authors: Basques
authors: Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Yale University School of Medicine, 800 Howard Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510. E-mail address for J.N. Grauer: jonathan.grauer@yale.edu.
authors: Jason O
authors: JO
authors: Toy
authors: Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Yale University School of Medicine, 800 Howard Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510. E-mail address for J.N. Grauer: jonathan.grauer@yale.edu.
authors: Daniel D
authors: DD
authors: Bohl
authors: Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Yale University School of Medicine, 800 Howard Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510. E-mail address for J.N. Grauer: jonathan.grauer@yale.edu.
authors: Nicholas S
authors: NS
authors: Golinvaux
authors: Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Yale University School of Medicine, 800 Howard Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510. E-mail address for J.N. Grauer: jonathan.grauer@yale.edu.
authors: Jonathan N
authors: JN
authors: Grauer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061646:Operative Time; D015207:Osteoarthritis, Hip / Q000601:surgery*; D010359:Patient Readmission; D016896:Treatment Outcome