Joint surgery linked to short-term mortality and longer-term heart attack and mortality

• Among patients undergoing joint surgery, those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have almost double the risk of death at 6 weeks compared with those without RA, as well as an increased risk of death and myocardial infarction (MI) at 1 year.

• Note that the risks are elevated not just for surgeries like hip joint replacement, but also for relatively minor procedures such as shoulder surgery.

Source: Mortality Risk Increased Post Joint Surgery in RA | Medpage Today