Applied Sciences (Dec 2020)

Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors and Anticoagulants Delay Surgery for Hip Fractures

  • Oana Suciu,
  • Bogdan Deleanu,
  • Horia Haragus,
  • Teodora Hoinoiu,
  • Cristina Tudoran,
  • Adrian Todor,
  • Andrei Ghiorghitoiu,
  • Nevena Velimirovici,
  • Roxana Ramona Onofrei

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app10238617
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 23
p. 8617

Abstract

Read online

Background: we aimed to analyze the influence of antithrombotic medication in delaying surgery for fragility hip fractures; Method: a total of 312 consecutive hip fracture cases over 55 years who underwent surgery in our Orthopedic Clinic; Results: of these, 90 patients received chronic antithrombotic medication. There were no differences between the medicated group and controls (n = 222) regarding age, gender, type of fracture and haemoglobin at admittance. However, median time to surgery was significantly longer in the medicated group: 4(3–6) days compared to 2(1–4) (p < 0.0001). By type of medication, time to surgery was: 3(1–4) days for acetylsalicylic acid (n = 44), 6(5.25–7.75) days for clopidogrel (n = 15), 4.5(4–7) days for acenocoumarin (n = 18) and 5(4–7.25) days for novel direct oral anticoagulants (n = 13). The Charlson comorbidity index was significantly higher in the medicated group: 5 [4–5] versus 4 [3–5]. There were no differences in transfusions except for fresh frozen plasma, which was administered more in the medicated patients; Conclusions: the prevalence of platelet aggregation inhibitors and anticoagulant use among fragility hip fracture patients is high, with almost a third using some form of antithrombotic medication. This may significantly lengthen time to surgery.

Keywords