BMJ : British medical journal
-
To report the incidence of elective total hip replacement and postoperative mortality, emergency readmission rates, and the demographic factors associated with these rates in a large defined population. ⋯ The pronounced increase in operations in districts with initially low rates suggests a trend towards greater equity in the local provision of NHS hip arthroplasty. The early postoperative clusters of deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease and of readmissions for thromboembolic disease suggest that there is scope for investigating ways of reducing the incidence of major adverse postoperative events.