Differences in Patient and Procedure Characteristics and Hospital Resource Use in Primary and Revision Total Joint Arthroplasty

A multicenter retrospective cost-identification cohort study was undertaken to analyze clinical, demographic, and economic data for 4533 consecutive total hip arthroplasty (THA) and 3508 consecutive total knee arthroplasty (TKA) procedures performed during a 3-year period in 1 of 3 hospitals. Statistically significant differences were found between primary and revision procedures with respect to patient age, sex, payer type, mean total operative time, use of allograft, average length of hospital stay, discharge disposition, and hospital costs. Significant differences were also found between different types of revision total joint arthroplasty (TJA) procedures. Our findings could be used to help improve the accuracy of administrative claims data related to primary and revision TJA procedures to identify relevant differences in patient characteristics, procedure characteristics, and hospital resource use.