The safety of continuing Total Joint Arthroplasty (TJA), as an elective procedure, during the pandemic is controversial. The present study aimed to investigate the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 and its related risk factors in unvaccinated patients after TJA within one month post-discharge in two large cities of our country.
The present prospective study included all the patients admitted to three hospitals, located in two high-populated cities of our country from April 1st, 2020, to April 1st, 2021, for elective TJA. Urgent TJA (traumatic fractures) were excluded. The primary outcome was symptomatic COVID-19 within one-month after discharge that was diagnosed using the SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test. Afterward, the incidence of the COVID-19 in the study population was compared with the general population to estimate the safety of elective TJA during the pandemic.
From the 1007 patients undergoing TJA, 755 patients met the inclusion criteria. None of the patients was vaccinated against COVID-19. Among them, 18 patients (2.4%) developed symptomatic COVID-19 within one-month after discharge. In the same time interval, the incidence of COVID-19 was 2.2% in the general population of these two cities, which was similar to the incidence reported in the study population. Of the patients who were positive for COVID-19, four patients were hospitalized, and 3 of them were ICU-admitted; however, no mortality was reported.