Preoperative cardiology consultations for geriatric patients with hip fractures rarely provide additional recommendations and are associated with prolonged hospital stays and delayed surgery: a retrospective case control study.

Objectives: Hip fractures are increasingly common among the elderly population, who often present with a high burden of comorbidities necessitating preoperative stabilization. As a result, preoperative cardiology consultations are frequently conducted in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the additional recommendations provided by preoperative cardiology consultations and the impact of consultations on the management and outcomes of elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery.

Patients and methods: This matched cohort study was performed to retrospectively assess the clinical data of patients who were treated for hip fractures at our institution between January 2016 and December 2017. Individuals who were 60 years old or older with available clinical and radiological data were included. A total of 262 patients who met these criteria were included, with 192 undergoing cardiology consultation and 70 not. Through matching for age, sex, ASA grade, fracture type, and surgery type, two groups (Group A, preoperative cardiology consultation requested; Group B, preoperative cardiology consultation not requested) of 50 patients each were formed. The duration between hospital admission and surgery, recommendations provided by cardiology consultation, type of anaesthesia and surgery, length of hospital stay, incidence of medical and orthopaedic complications, and one-year mortality status were compared between the groups.

Results: The mean age of Group A was 78.5 (± 7.4) years, whereas that of Group B was 78.4 (± 7.4) years (p = 0.99). Both groups included 30 female patients and 20 male patients each. There were no significant differences in anaesthesia type or the incidence of medical or orthopaedic complications between the groups. However, Group A experienced a significantly longer duration between admission and surgery (5 [1/9] days vs. 3 [0/7] days; p = 0.00) and a longer hospital stay (7 [3/15] days vs. 5 [1/19] days; p = 0.01) than did Group B. The one-year mortality rate did not significantly differ between the groups (30% vs. 20%; p = 0.36). Notably, only 3 out of 50 patients received additional treatments following cardiology consultation beyond routine recommendations.

Conclusion: Preoperative cardiology consultations before hip fracture surgery rarely leads to a change in treatment. Additionally, these evaluations delay surgery and extend the hospital stay.