Comparative study of two anesthesia methods according to postoperative complications and one month mortality rate in the candidates of hip surgery

Background: Surgery for hip fractures can be done under general or neuraxial anesthesia. This study aimed to compare these two methods concerning their postoperative complications, duration of operation, hospitalization and the mortality rate within a period of one month after surgery.

Methods: 400 patients aged more than 30 years old and scheduled for elective operative fixation of fractured hip, randomly enrolled in two equal groups of general (GA) and neuraxial (NA) anesthesia. Hemoglobin level was measured before and 6 hours, 2, 3 and 5 days after the surgery. The intra and postoperative blood loss, duration of surgery, the severity of pain at the time of discharge from recovery and at the 2(nd), 3(rd) and 5(th) postoperative days were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 12.0 by Mann-Whitney, chi-square, and t tests. P < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Both groups were similar regarding age, weight, and gender ratio. There was no significant difference in baseline hemoglobin, duration of surgery, length of hospitalization before surgery and the type of surgery. The mean of intraoperative blood loss and visual analogue score (VAS) in recovery and at the 3(rd) postoperative day, and also the length of hospitalization after surgery were significantly less in neuraxial anesthesia group. Both groups showed a significant decrease in hemoglobin values on the 2(nd) and 3(rd) postoperative days comparing to the baseline (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The morbidity and mortality rates of patients undergoing hip surgery were similar in both methods of anesthesia, but postoperative pain, blood loss, and duration of hospitalization were more in patients undergoing general anesthesia.