Comparing the Effect of Spinal and General Anesthesia for Hip Fracture Surgery in Older Patients: A Meta‐analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

OBJECTIVE: Hip fractures are the most common fractures among older adults, with most patients undergoing surgery. The debate regarding the type of anesthetic technique for hip fracture surgery is still ongoing. This meta‐analysis aimed to compare the intraoperative and postoperative outcomes of spinal and general anesthesia in older patients undergoing hip fracture surgery. METHODS: Eligible studies that compared the effects of spinal and general anesthesia were systematically searched from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library until May 27, 2022. The intraoperative and postoperative outcomes of the two anesthesia techniques were compared. Quality assessment, heterogeneity analysis, and publication bias of the studies were also assessed. RESULTS: Nine articles of methodological quality were included in the meta‐analysis. The pooled results revealed that there were significant differences in hypotension (risk ratio [RR] (95% confidence interval [CI]) = 0.81 (0.68, 0.97), p = 0.02) and ephedrine dose (weighted mean difference [WMD] [95%CI] = −20.94 [−37.50, −4.37] mg, p = 0.01) between the spinal and general anesthesia groups. However, no significant differences were observed in the use of ephedrine (RR [95% CI] = 0.77 [0.19, 3.05]), blood loss (WMD [95%CI] = −34.38 [−89.56, 20.80) mL], myocardial infarction (RR [95% CI] = 0.78 [0.31, 1.94] mL), heart failure (RR [95% CI] = 0.87 [0.17, 4.36] mL), stroke (RR [95%CI) = 0.65 [0.22, 1.95] mL), postoperative nausea and vomiting (RR [95% CI] = 0.88 [0.17, 4.35] mL), delirium (RR [95% CI] = 1.08 [0.89, 1.31] mL), and mortality (RR [95% CI] = 1.10 [0.72, 1.68] mL) (all p < 0.05). No publication bias was observed in any of the included studies. CONCLUSION: Compared to general anesthesia, spinal anesthesia was associated with a lower risk of intraoperative hypotension and lower doses of ephedrine in older patients undergoing hip fracture surgery.