Reliability of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition, Codes to Detect Morbid Obesity in Patients Undergoing Total Hip Arthroplasty

Although morbidly obese patients are likely to be easily identified as obese using codes, these patients may not be receiving a specific code. Researchers and clinicians should be aware that coding errors are prevalent even among higher grades of obesity in patients undergoing THA which may lead to suboptimal reimbursements and affect the results of studies using codes.