Preinjury Narcotic Use Does Not Affect Treatment for Compartment Syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the association of preinjury opioid use on incidence of fasciotomy after lower extremity trauma. DESIGN: Retrospective case-control study. SETTING: Level 1 trauma center. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: We identified 245 consecutive patients treated with fasciotomy for compartment syndrome of the lower extremity from 2011 to 2016. Of these, 115 were excluded for isolated vascular injury without fracture, age younger than 18 years, out-of-state residence, nontraumatic etiology, and/or incomplete opioid records. Three hundred ninety age- and sex-matched patients with tibial fractures not requiring fasciotomy were selected for comparison. INTERVENTION: Review of demographics, injury characteristics, and opioid prescriptions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Rate of preinjury narcotic use. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in chronic opioid use between patients requiring fasciotomy and those who did not (odds ratio = 0.80, 95% confidence interval: 0.43-1.50, P = 0.49). There was no significant difference in average morphine milligram equivalents (MME)/day (66.6 vs. 77.4, P = 0.68). There was no significant difference in active opioid use (odds ratio = 0.76, 95% confidence interval: 0.45-1.29, P = 0.30). There was no significant difference in average MME/day (69.3 vs. 75.6, P = 0.80) for active narcotic users. CONCLUSION: There were no differences in the rate or average MME/day of preinjury opioid use between patients with a tibia fracture treated with or without fasciotomy for compartment syndrome. These results indicate that pre-existing opioid use does not interfere with the accurate diagnosis of compartment syndrome in trauma patients. The diagnosis and treatment of compartment syndrome is not affected by preinjury narcotic use and potential associations with opiate-induced hyperalgesia. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

A predictive model for increased hospital length of stay following geriatric hip fracture.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors that are significantly associated with hospital length of stay (LOS) following geriatric hip fracture and to use these significant variables to develop a LOS calculator. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study examining 614 patients treated for geriatric hip fracture between January 2000 and December 2009 at an urban, Level 1 trauma center. A negative binomial regression analysis was used to identify perioperative variables associated with hospital LOS. RESULTS: 614 patients met the inclusion criteria, presenting with a mean age of 78 (±10) years. The most common pre-operative comorbidity was hypertension, followed by diabetes and COPD. After controlling for all collected comorbidities as well as demographics and operative variables, hypertension (IRR: 1.10, p = 0.029) and disseminated cancer (IRR: 1.24, p = 0.007) were found to be significantly associated with LOS. In addition, two demographic/presenting variables, admission to the medicine service (IRR: 1.48, p < 0.001) and male sex (IRR: 1.09, p = 0.034), were shown to be independent risk factors for prolonged LOS. These variables were synthesized into a LOS formula, which estimated LOS to within 3 days of the true length of stay for 0.758 of the series (95% confidence interval: 0.661 to 0.855). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified several comorbidity and perioperative variables that were significantly associated with LOS following geriatric hip fracture surgery. The resulting LOS model may have utility in the risk stratification of orthopaedic trauma patients presenting with hip fracture.