Risk Factors for Early Hip or Knee Prosthetic Joint Infection (PJI): Analysis of a Nationwide American Insurance Claims Dataset

BACKGROUND: While several studies have identified risk factors for PJI using insurance claims data, these data sets have been limited to a single regional insurance dataset or to the Medicare population. We sought to investigate risk factors for early PJI among patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty (THKA). METHODS: All patients who underwent primary THKA between January 1, 2004 and July 31, 2014 with 12 months of continuous preceding medical and pharmacy insurance coverage were included in the study. The primary outcome of PJI required both a compatible procedure code and a diagnostic code during an inpatient stay from the time of THKA through 90 days after discharge. Comorbidities were based on ICD-9 codes in the preceding 12 months and patients with a prior diagnosis of PJI during that time period were excluded. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed using logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 147,053 patients underwent THKA during the study period, including 97,448 patients with TKA and 49,605 with THA. PJI occurred in 754 (0.5%) patients. Female gender was independently associated with lower odds of PJI (Figure). A number of biologically plausible factors were associated with increased risk, including chronic skin ulcer, obesity, substance use disorders, joint sarcoma, and malnutrition. The adjusted odds of PJI increased in a stepwise fashion with each increase in the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), with those with a score of 4 or more having a nearly 2-fold adjusted odds of PJI compared with a score of 0 (OR 1.91; 95% CI 1.29 −2.82). Previously observed risk factors diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic renal failure were associated with increased odds of PJI on univariate analysis, but not after adjustment. CONCLUSION: These data identify several potentially modifiable risk factors for preoperative optimization, including obesity, malnutrition, chronic skin ulcers, and substance-use disorders. The level of comorbidity as assessed by the CCI provides a rough estimate of the increasing risk of PJI. The pathobiology of additional risk factors observed here deserves further study. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.