The purpose of this study was to analyze the outcomes of ceramic bearings used in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) in the Medicare population. METHODS: A total of 315,784 elderly Medicare patients (65+) who underwent primary THA between 2005 and 2014 were identified from the United States Medicare 100% national administrative hospital claims database. Outcomes of interest included infection, dislocation, revision, or mortality at any time point after primary surgery. Propensity scores were developed to adjust for selection bias in the choice of bearing type at index primary surgery. RESULTS: For primary THA patients treated with ceramic-on-polyethylene (C-PE) bearings and ceramic-on-ceramic (COC) bearings, there was significantly reduced risk of infection relative to metal-on-polyethylene (M-PE) bearings (C-PE hazard ratio [HR]: 0.86, P = .001; COC HR: 0.74, P = .01). For the C-PE cohort, we also observed reduced risk of dislocation (HR: 0.81, P < .001) and mortality (HR: 0.92, P < .001). There was no significant difference in risk of revision for either the C-PE or COC bearing cohorts when compared with M-PE. For the COC cohort, there was no significant difference in dislocation or mortality risk. CONCLUSION: As in previous studies, we found that ceramic bearings have similar overall revision risk as M-PE bearings in primary THA at 8-9 years of follow-up. The results indicate that, after adjusting for selection bias and various confounding patient-, surgeon-, and hospital-related factors, Medicare primary THA patients treated with ceramic bearings exhibit lower risk of infection than those treated with M-PE bearings. In addition, C-PE bearings were associated with lower risk of dislocation and mortality.
