Preoperative simplified geriatric assessment in planned hip and knee arthroplasty

Key summary points Aim The main objective of this work was to identify the criteria of a simplified standardized geriatric assessment (mini-CGA) that were associated with unplanned hospital readmission within 3 months after planned hip and/or knee arthroplasty in patients ≥ 65 years, and the secondary objective was to determine the geriatric frailties associated with postoperative complications. Findings We found that dependence assessed using the activities of daily living (ADL) scale was associated with the risk of early readmission in older patients undergoing planned arthroplasty, and that living alone prior to surgery was associated with complications during the first 3 postoperative months. Message Preoperative assessment before planned orthopedic surgical procedures using the simplified geriatric assessment (mini-CGA) appears essential to limit the risks of postoperative morbidity and to identify larger numbers of frail older patients in order to propose appropriate interventions after geriatric assessment.