Impact of wound complications in obese versus non‐obese patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty: A meta‐analysis

This meta‐analysis examined the post‐operative wound effect of both obese and non‐obese in total hip arthroplasty (THA) patients. To gather as complete an overview as possible, the researchers took advantage of 4 databases—PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science—to conduct a critical assessment. Following the development of inclusion and exclusion criteria, the researchers evaluated the quality of each document. A total of 9 related trials were conducted to determine the 95% CI (CI) and OR using a fixed‐effect model. The final meta‐analyses were conducted with RevMan 5.3. Our findings indicate that there is no statistically significant benefit in terms of post‐operative wound complications among obese and non‐obese patients. Obese subjects had a significantly higher risk of injury than those without obesity (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.04, 1.95, p = 0.03); obesity was also associated with a significantly higher risk of operative site infection than in non‐obese subjects (OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.76, 2.18, p < 0.0001); and after surgery, there was also a significant increase in the risk of post‐operative wound infections among obese subjects than in non‐obese subjects (OR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.34, 1.84, p < 0.0001). However, due to the small size of the cohort study in this meta‐study, caution is required in the analysis. More randomized, controlled studies will be needed to validate these results.