Dataset Information

Tibia shaft fractures: costly burden of nonunions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tibia shaft fractures (TSF) are common for men and women and cause substantial morbidity, healthcare use, and costs. The impact of nonunions on healthcare use and costs is poorly described. Our goal was to investigate patient characteristics and healthcare use and costs associated with TSF in patients with and without nonunion.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed medical claims in large U.S. managed care claims databases (Thomson Reuters MarketScan®, 16 million lives). We studied patients ≥ 18 years old with a TSF diagnosis (ICD-9 codes: 823.20, 823.22, 823.30, 823.32) in 2006 with continuous pharmaceutical and medical benefit enrollment 1 year prior and 2 years post-fracture. Nonunion was defined by ICD-9 code 733.82 (after the TSF date).

Results

Among the 853 patients with TSF, 99 (12%) had nonunion. Patients with nonunion had more comorbidities (30 vs. 21, pre-fracture) and were more likely to have their TSF open (87% vs. 70%) than those without nonunion. Patients with nonunion were more likely to have additional fractures during the 2-year follow-up (of lower limb [88.9% vs. 69.5%, P < 0.001], spine or trunk [16.2% vs. 7.2%, P = 0.002], and skull [5.1% vs. 1.3%, P = 0.008]) than those without nonunion. Nonunion patients were more likely to use various types of surgical care, inpatient care (tibia and non-tibia related: 65% vs. 40%, P < 0.001) and outpatient physical therapy (tibia-related: 60% vs. 42%, P < 0.001) than those without nonunion. All categories of care (except emergency room costs) were more expensive in nonunion patients than in those without nonunion: median total care cost $25,556 vs. $11,686, P < 0.001. Nonunion patients were much more likely to be prescribed pain medications (99% vs. 92%, P = 0.009), especially strong opioids (90% vs. 76.4%, P = 0.002) and had longer length of opioid therapy (5.4 months vs. 2.8 months, P < 0.001) than patients without nonunion. Tibia fracture patterns in men differed from those in women.

Conclusions

Nonunions in TSF's are associated with substantial healthcare resource use, common use of strong opioids, and high per-patient costs. Open fractures are associated with higher likelihood of nonunion than closed ones. Effective screening of nonunion risk may decrease this morbidity and subsequent healthcare resource use and costs.

SUBMITTER: Antonova E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3573940 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundTibial shaft fractures (TSFs) are among the most common long bone injuries often resulting from high-energy trauma. To date, musculoskeletal complications such as fracture-related infection (FRI) and compromised fracture healing following fracture fixation of these injuries are still prevalent. The relatively high complication rates prove that, despite advances in modern fracture care, the management of TSFs remains a challenge even in the hands of experienced surgeons. Therefore, the Fracture-Related Outcome Study for operatively treated Tibia shaft fractures (F.R.O.S.T.) aims at creating a registry that enables data mining to gather detailed information to support future clinical decision-making regarding the management of TSF's.MethodsThis prospective, international, multicenter, observational registry for TSFs was recently developed. Recruitment started in 2019 and is planned to take 36?months, seeking to enroll a minimum of 1000 patients. The study protocol does not influence the clinical decision-making procedure, implant choice, or surgical/imaging techniques; these are being performed as per local hospital standard of care. Data collected in this registry include injury specifics, treatment details, clinical outcomes (e.g., FRI), patient-reported outcomes, and procedure- or implant-related adverse events. The minimum follow up is 12?months.DiscussionAlthough over the past decades, multiple high-quality studies have addressed individual research questions related to the outcome of TSFs, knowledge gaps remain. The scarcity of data calls for an international high-quality, population-based registry. Creating such a database could optimize strategies intended to prevent severe musculoskeletal complications. The main purpose of the F.R.O.S.T registry is to evaluate the association between different treatment strategies and patient outcomes. It will address not only operative techniques and implant materials but also perioperative preventive measures. For the first time, data concerning systemic perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, the influence of local antimicrobials, and timing of soft-tissue coverage will be collected at an international level and correlated with standardized outcome measures in a large prospective, multicenter, observational registry for global accessibility.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03598530 .

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