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Trauma: A. W. Siegmeth, K. Gurusamy, and M. J. Parker Delay to surgery prolongs hospital stay in patients with fractures of the proximal femur J Bone Joint Surg Br 2005; 87-B: 1123-1126 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Delay to surgery prolongs hospital stay

C G Moran, R Wenn   (10 November 2005)

Delay to surgery prolongs hospital stay 10 November 2005
C G Moran Queen's Medical Centre Nottingham, R Wenn Send letter to journal: Re: Delay to surgery prolongs hospital stay crazyorthopod{at}lineone.net C G Moran, et al.	Sir, We read this paper with great interest as this is an important subject. We would be grateful for some clarification on the statistical methods. How did the authors deal with patients who died following surgery in the statistical analysis? These patients have a shorter length of stay and so are a confounding variable that can skew the results either way. Because death within 30 days is fairly common after hip fracture surgery, these patients cannot be ignored and we would be grateful for some clarification on how the authors dealt with this important group of patients. Were they included or excluded from the regression model? If they adjusted for this variable, presumably they used a multiple regression analysis. Professor CG Moran, MD FRCS (Ed) Mr R Wenn, Audit Co-ordinator Queen's Medical Centre Nottingham NG7 2UH