Effect of obesity on short- and long-term complications of shoulder arthroplasty

Abstract

The number of patients undergoing TSA with obesity is rising. Medical complications and infection after TSA are greater in obese patients even when matching for medical comorbidities, age, and sex, and rates of complication increase as BMI increases. Obesity is not an independent risk factor for mechanical surgical complications and revision surgery, and the relatively higher rates are likely due to an increased burden of other comorbidities. Surgeons should counsel obese patients appropriately regarding their perioperative risk of medical complication, but they should not expect higher rates of mechanical complication or revision surgery at 2-year follow-up when compared to a matched control group with similar comorbidities.