THA Not Associated with Increased Cancer Risk

Patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA) for osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip did not have a greater risk for cancer in a study published in the International Journal of Cancer.

“Previous studies on the risk of cancer after total hip arthroplasty (THA) contradict each other, and many are hampered by small cohort sizes, residual confounding, short observation times, or a mix of indications underlying the THA procedure,” the study authors reported. “We evaluated the risk of cancer after total hip arthroplasty due to osteoarthritis in a nationwide cohort by comparing cancer incidences in individuals exposed to total hip arthroplasty due to osteoarthritis and in unexposed, sex‐, age‐ and residence matched individuals.”

Researchers compared 126,276 patients who underwent a cemented THA between 1992 and 2012 to 555,757 patients who did not undergo surgery. For operative patients, follow-up began on the day of the index surgery; nonoperative patients matched to the THA cohort were given the same follow-up start day. Final follow-up day was the first to occur of day of death, emigration, or censuring, or Dec. 31, 2012. Data were collected from the Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Registry (SHAR), the Swedish Cancer Registry, the Swedish National Patient Registry and Statistics Sweden; collected information included procedural THA details, cancer diagnoses, comorbidities, and socioeconomic background. The main outcome was cancer occurrence after the first day of follow-up.

Compared to the control group, THA patients had a slightly lower adjusted risk for cancer (hazard ratio [HR] 0.97; confidence interval [CI] 0.95-0.99). The operative cohort only had a significantly increased risk for one type of cancer—skin melanoma (HR 1.15; CI 1.05 ‐ 1.24).

“We attained similar risk estimates in analyses stratified by sex, in individuals with minimum 5 years of follow‐up, in an analysis including individuals with a history of previous cancer, and in patients with cementless THA,” the researchers added.

The authors concluded that their findings could be part of “reassuring” information given to prospective THA patients prior to surgery.

Mortality rates associated with falls are on the rise in older adults in the United States, recent research has found, making the findings even more critical. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one out of four adults aged 65 years and older falls every year—but most do not tell their doctor. And patients with a history of falls are significantly more likely to fall again. One in every five falls results in a serious injury, one of the most common being broken bones.