Impact of Surgeon Subspecialty on Outcome Following Hip Arthroplasty for Femoral Neck Fracture.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to compare hospital quality and patient outcomes of hip arthroplasty for femoral neck fractures (FNFs) based on the subspecialty training of the treating surgeon: orthopaedic trauma (OT) versus adult reconstruction (AR) fellowship training.

METHODS

A retrospective review was conducted on 1,008 elderly patients treated for an FNFs with hemiarthroplasty or total hip arthroplasty between 2014 and 2024. Patients were grouped by their surgeon's subspecialty training (OT versus AR). Outcomes analyzed included length of stay, complications, 30-day and 90-day readmissions, dislocations, infections, and 30-day mortality. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

Baseline patient demographics were similar between groups, except for a higher proportion of women in the AR cohort (P = 0.008) and Black patients in the OT cohort (P = 0.016). Although age-unadjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index was significantly higher in the AR group (P = 0.046), Score for Trauma Triage in the Geriatric and Middle Aged scores, which take Charlson Comorbidity Index and other health factors into account, were not significantly different (P = 0.59). In-hospital outcomes, including length of stay (P = 0.89) and minor and major complication rates (P = 0.38, P = 0.38), demonstrated no significant differences between groups. Postdischarge outcomes, including readmissions (30-day: P = 0.52, 90-day: P = 0.16), infections (P = 0.25), dislocations (P = 0.89), and 30-day mortality (P = 0.14), were also similar.

CONCLUSIONS

No differences were identified in any of the outcomes analyzed between OT-trained and AR-trained surgeons in our study. This suggests that when FNFs are treated at high-volume academic institutions, subspecialty training may not substantially influence the short-term results of FNFs treated with hip arthroplasty. These findings highlight the importance of timely surgical intervention rather than waiting for a particularly trained surgeon to be available.