Table VIII.

‘Tick-box’ complications six weeks following surgery, collected from patients who underwent hip, knee, or upper limb primary or revision arthroplasty. Complications that had been entered into a database are listed below. Some patients reported more than one complication. Fisher’s exact test confirms significantly fewer six-week complications in 2020 compared to 2019.

Total surgical procedures	2019	Complications, n/1,699 (%)	2020	Complications, n/1,361 (%)	p-value*
Patients reporting one or more complications, n	278		129		< 0.001
Deep vein thrombosis	15	5.40 (0.88)	5	1.80 (0.36)	0.112
Diarrhoea and vomiting	17	6.12 (1.00)	9	3.24 (0.66)	0.330
Dislocation	0	0	1	0.36 (0.04)	0.445
Heart attack	1	0.36 (0.06)	0	0	1.000
Joint infection	5	1.8 (0.30)	5	1.80 (0.37)	0.759
Nerve palsy	1	0.36 (0.06)	0	0	1.000
Other surgery to joint	5	1.8 (0.30)	2	0.72 (0.15)	0.472
Periprosthetic fracture	1	0.36 (0.04)	2	0.72 (0.15)	0.588
Pneumonia	10	3.60 (0.59)	0	0	0.003
Pulmonary embolism	1	0.36 (0.04)	2	0.72 (0.15)	0.588
Stroke	2	0.72 (0.12)	0	0	0.506
Urine infection	49	17.63 (2.30)	17	6.12 (1.25)	0.002
Wound infections	37	13.31 (2.18)	24	8.63 (1.86)	0.438
‘Free-text’ complications	167		85		< 0.001

^*Fisher's exact test.