Primary hip and knee arthroplasty at district level is safe and may reduce the burden on tertiary care in a low-income setting

Table 3 Comparison of non-orthopaedic outcomes

Main Non-Orthopaedic Outcome Measures		DH (n = 228)	TH (n = 795)
Average Hospital Stay		5.2 ± 2.0 days	7.6 ± 7.1 days	p = 0.0001
	Knee	5.44	7.17	p < 0.001
	Hip	4.80	6.75	p < 0.001
Readmissions < 3mth postoperative		1.7% (4)	4.4% (35)	p = 0.04
Peri-operative Death		0.4% (1)	0.6% (6)	p = 0.76
Other infections e.g. UTI, LRTI*		0.9% (2)	1.9% (15)	p = 0.27
Thromboembolic event		1.7% (4)	1.0% (8)	p = 0.52
	DVT	0.9% (2)	0.1% (1)
	PE	0.4% (1)	0.6% (5)
	CVA	0.4% (1)	0.2% (2)
Anaesthetic Related Complications		0.4% (1)	2.5% (20)	p = 0.06

^*UTI Urinary Tract Infection, **LRTI Lower Respiratory Infection
DVT Deep Vein Thrombosis, PE Pulmonary Embolis, CVA cerebrovascular accident

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