Socioeconomic status is associated with greater hazard of post-discharge mortality than race, gender, and ballistic injury mechanism in a young, healthy, orthopedic trauma population.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the utility of legacy demographic factors and ballistic injury mechanism relative to popular markers of socioeconomic status as prognostic indicators of 10-year mortality following hospital discharge in a young, healthy patient population with isolated orthopedic trauma injuries. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed to evaluate patients treated at an urban Level I trauma center from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2016. Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) codes were used to identify upper and lower extremity fracture patients undergoing operative fixation. Exclusion criteria were selected to yield a patient population of isolated extremity trauma in young, otherwise healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 years. Variables collected included injury mechanism, age, race, gender, behavior risk factors, Area Deprivation Index (ADI), and insurance status. The primary outcome was post-discharge mortality, occurring at any point during the study period. RESULTS: We identified 2539 patients with operatively treated isolated extremity fractures. The lowest two quartiles of socioeconomic status (SES) were associated with higher hazard of mortality than the highest SES quartile in multivariable analysis (Quartile 3 HR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.2-4.1, p = 0.01; Quartile 4 HR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.1-4.3, p = 0.02). Not having private insurance was associated with higher mortality hazard in multivariable analysis (HR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3-3.2, p = 0.002). The presence of any behavioral risk factor was associated with higher mortality hazard in univariable analysis (HR: 1.8, p < 0.05), but this difference did not reach statistical significance in multivariable analysis (HR: 1.4, 95%: 0.8-2.3, p = 0.20). Injury mechanism (ballistic versus blunt), gender, and race were not associated with increased hazard of mortality (p > 0.20). CONCLUSION: Low SES is associated with a greater hazard of long-term mortality than ballistic injury mechanism, race, gender, and medically diagnosable behavioral risk factors in a young, healthy orthopedic trauma population with isolated extremity injury.

Predicting Which Species of Bacteria Will Cause an Infection After Fracture Surgery.

The aim of this study was to develop and validate risk prediction models for deep surgical site infection (SSI) caused by specific bacterial pathogens after fracture fixation. A retrospective case-control study was conducted at a level I trauma center. Fifteen candidate predictors of the bacterial pathogens in deep SSI were evaluated to develop models of bacterial risk. The study included 441 patients with orthopedic trauma with deep SSI after fracture fixation and 576 control patients. The main outcome measurement was deep SSI cultures positive for methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA), gram-negative rods (GNRs), anaerobes, or polymicrobial infection within 1 year of injury. Prognostic models were developed for five bacterial pathogen outcomes. Mean area under the curve ranged from 0.70 (GNRs) to 0.74 (polymicrobial). Strong predictors of MRSA were American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification of III or greater (odds ratio [OR], 3.4; 95% CI, 1.6-8.0) and time to fixation greater than 7 days (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.9-5.9). Gustilo type III fracture was the strongest predictor of MSSA (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.6-3.9) and GNRs (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 2.3-5.0). ASA classification of III or greater was the strongest predictor of polymicrobial infection (OR, 5.9; 95% CI, 2.7-15.5) and was associated with increased odds of GNRs (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.5-5.5). Our models predict the risk of MRSA, MSSA, GNR, anaerobe, and polymicrobial infections in patients with fractures. The models might allow for modification of preoperative antibiotic selection based on the particular pathogen posing greatest risk for this patient population. [Orthopedics. 2024;47(1):e19-e25.].

The Use of Vancomycin Powder in Tibial Plateau Fractures at Lower Risk of Infection.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of vancomycin powder in preventing infection after plate and screw fixation of tibial plateau fractures considered at low risk of infection. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Single, Level I trauma center. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: This study included 459 patients with tibial plateau fractures (OTA/AO 41-B/C) who underwent open reduction and internal fixation from 2006 to 2018 and were considered at low risk of infection based on not meeting the "high risk" definition of the VANCO trial. INTERVENTION: Vancomycin powder administration on wound closure at the time of definitive fixation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Deep surgical site infection with at least 1 gram-positive bacteria culture. RESULTS: Vancomycin powder administration was associated with reduction in gram-positive infection from 4% to 0% (odds ratio, 0.12; 95% confidence interval, 0.04-0.32; P < 0.01). No significant effect was reported in gram-negative only infections, which were observed in 0.3% in the control group, compared with 0.9% in the intervention group (odds ratio, 2.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.11-69; P = 0.54). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was the most common organism isolated in the control group, growing in 9 of 18 infections (50%). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with low-risk tibial plateau fractures, vancomycin powder at the time of definitive fixation showed a reduction in the incidence of gram-positive deep surgical site infection. The observed relative effect was relatively larger than that observed in a previous randomized trial on high-risk fractures. These data might support broadening the indication for use of vancomycin powder to include tibial plateau fractures at low risk of infection. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Patients value their own pain over braking safety when deciding when to return to driving: a discrete choice experiment on lower extremity injuries.

Objective: To quantify patient preferences towards time to return to driving relative to compromised reaction time and potential complication risks. Design: Cross-sectional discrete choice experiment. Setting: Academic trauma center. Patients: Ninety-six adult patients with an operative lower extremity fracture from December 2019 through December 2020. Intervention: None. Main Outcome Measurement: Patient completed a discrete choice experiment survey consisting of 12 hypothetical return to driving scenarios with varied attributes: time to return to driving (range: 1 to 6 months), risk of implant failure (range: 1% to 12%), pain upon driving return (range: none to severe), and driving safety measured by braking distance (range: 0 to 40 feet at 60 mph). The relative importance of each attribute is reported on a scale of 0% to 100%. Results: Patients most valued a reduced pain level when resuming driving (62%), followed by the risk of implant failure (17%), time to return to driving (13%), and braking safety (8%). Patients were indifferent to returning to driving at 1 month (median utility: 28, interquartile range [IQR] -31 to 80) or 2 months (median utility: 59, IQR: 41 to 91) postinjury. Conclusion: Patients with lower extremity injuries demonstrated a willingness to forego earlier return to driving if it might mean a decrease in their pain level. Patients are least concerned about their driving safety, instead placing higher value on their own pain level and chance of implant failure. The findings of this study are the first to rigorously quantify patient preferences toward a return to driving and heterogeneity in patient preferences. Level of Evidence: V.

The Effect of Surgeon Experience on Short- to Medium-Term Complication Rate Following Operative Fixation of Acetabular Fractures.

OBJECTIVES: Operative management of acetabular fractures is technically challenging, but there is little data regarding how surgeon experience affects outcomes. Previous efforts have focused only on reduction quality in a single surgeon series. We hypothesized that increasing surgeon experience would be associated with improved acetabular surgical outcomes in general. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Urban academic level-I trauma center. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred ninety-five patients who underwent an open reduction internal fixation for an acetabular fracture. RESULTS: There was a significant association between surgeon experience and certain outcomes, specifically reoperation rate (16.9% overall), readmission rate (13.9% overall), and reduction quality. Deep infection rate (9.7% overall) and secondary displacement rate (3.7% overall) were not found to have a significant association with surgeon experience. For reoperation rate, the time until 50% peak performance was 2.4 years in practice. CONCLUSION: Surgeon experience had a significant association with reoperation rate, quality of reduction, and readmission rate after open reduction internal fixation of acetabular fractures. Other patient outcomes were not found to be associated with surgeon experience. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Posterolateral plating is a safe alternative for the treatment of distal tibial fractures.

INTRODUCTION: We assessed the outcome and safety of posterior plating of distal tibial fractures. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case series at a Level I trauma center. Seventy-four consecutive patients with distal tibial fractures treated with anatomically contoured 3.5-mm T-shaped locking compression plate using a posterolateral approach from January 2008 through April 2018 were included in the study. The mean patient age was 48 years (range, 18-87 years). Fifty-nine percent of the patients were male patients, 47% of the fractures were open fractures; and 27% of the patients had multiple traumatic injuries. Eleven fractures were AO/OTA type 42, 22 were type 43A, and 41 were type 43C. Sixty-two (84%) patients were treated with initial spanning external fixation (median time, 23 days) and staged open reduction and internal fixation. The main outcome measure was unplanned reoperation to address implant failure, nonunion, deep surgical site infection, or symptomatic implant. RESULTS: Overall risk of unplanned reoperation was 15% (11 of 74 patients, 95% confidence interval, 9%-25%). Four (5%) reoperations were for nonunion, three (4%) were for surgical site infection, two (3%) were for infected nonunion, and two (3%) were for implant prominence. Loss of alignment >10 degrees occurred in one patient who underwent unplanned reoperation for nonunion. No plate breakage occurred. Median time to reoperation was 221 days (range, 22-436 days). Only one other complication was noted: wound dehiscence associated with the posterolateral approach, which was treated with irrigation and débridement and a 6-week regimen of oral antibiotics. CONCLUSIONS: Use of a posterolateral approach with a pre-contoured locking compression T-plate for the treatment of distal tibial fractures led to reasonable outcomes with an acceptable risk of unplanned reoperation, even with a high proportion of open fractures commonly staged with external fixation.