Yale University EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library School of Medicine January 2019 Demographics, Mechanism Of Injury, Injury Severity, And Associated Injury Profiles Of Patients With Femoral And Tibial Shaft Fractures: A Study Of The National Trauma Databank Nidharshan Anandasivam Follow this and additional works at: https://elischolar.edu/ymtdl Recommended Citation Anandasivam, Nidharshan, "Demographics, Mechanism Of Injury, Injury Severity, And Associated Injury Profiles Of Patients With Femoral And Tibial Shaft Fractures: A Study Of The National Trauma Databank" (2019). Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library.edu/ymtdl/3473 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Medicine at EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library by an authorized administrator of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact elischolar@yale.
Demographics, mechanism of injury, injury severity, and associated injury profiles of patients with femoral and tibial shaft fractures: a study of the National Trauma Databank A Thesis Submitted to the Yale University School of Medicine in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine by Nidharshan Subra Anandasivam 2019 1 Abstract Introduction: Traumatic injuries, such as fractures, are known for having defined associated injury patterns. These can alter management and affect outcome if not promptly recognized and managed. There are limited large-scale studies of demographics, mechanism of injury, and injuries associated with femoral and tibial shaft fractures. To determine the demographics, mechanism of injury, injury severity score, and associated injuries in those with femoral and tibial shaft fractures in a large national sample.
To determine the relationship between associated injuries and in-hospital mortality. Methods: In two separate studies, patients in the 2011 and 2012 National Trauma Data Bank were analyzed for demographics, mechanism of injury, injury severity score, and associated injuries. Using ICD-9 diagnosis codes, the first study examined patients with tibial shaft fractures, while the second study examined patients with femoral shaft fractures. Descriptive analyses were performed for each of the cohorts, and multivariate regression was utilized to understand relationships between associated injuries and in- hospital mortality.
Results: A total of 26,357 adult patients with femoral shaft fractures were analyzed. The primary mechanisms of injury for these fractures were motor vehicle accidents and falls (predominantly in those above 65 years of age). Generally, those with motor vehicle accidents tended to be younger males with more associated injuries. Associated injuries tended to concentrate based on proximity to the femoral shaft fracture.
The highest frequencies of associated injuries are the following: upper extremity (22. A total of 27,706 adult patients with tibial shaft fractures were analyzed. There was a bimodal age distribution with peaks at 20 and 50 years of age. Falls were the most common mechanism in the older age groups, while motor vehicle accidents dominated the younger age groups.6% of patients had at least one associated injury.
The highest frequencies of associated injuries are the following: upper extremity (16. The presence of an associated injury correlated with mortality (odds ratio = 12. Conclusion: Overall, the current study describes the cohorts of patients who sustain femoral and tibial shaft fractures. The significant incidences and patterns associated with these fractures are described.
Furthermore, the significantly increased odds of mortality associated with these injuries underscores the importance of recognizing and managing associated injures in the trauma population. 2 Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the generous contributions of several individuals. First, I would like to extend a warm thank you to Dr. Jonathan Grauer who has been an inspirational mentor to me and a formative part of my orthopaedic education at the Yale School of Medicine.
In addition, I thank my colleagues who are a part of the clinical research team of Dr. The collegial atmosphere created here is like no other, and I am grateful for my opportunities to collaborate in the works of several esteemed individuals, including Dr. Daniel Bohl and Dr. I am also grateful for the mentorship of the Yale orthopaedics faculty including Dr.
Brian Smith and Dr. Michael Baumgaertner, as I really appreciate the support they have provided during my time at the Yale School of Medicine. 3 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….3 Introduction to Thesis……………………………………………………………….5 Sections (each containing an introduction, methods, results, discussion, tables, figures, and appendices) Section I: Analysis of Bony and Internal Organ Injuries…………………….6 Associated with 26,357 Adult Femoral Shaft Fractures and Their Impact on Mortality. Section II: Tibial Shaft Fracture: A Large-scale Study Defining…………….28 the Injured Population and Associated Injuries Conclusion to Thesis…………………………………………………………….53 4 Introduction to Thesis Femoral and tibial shaft fractures are relatively common injuries, with incidences of 10.5, respectively, per 100,000 people per year.1,2 Furthermore, these injuries are associated with several complications and significant costs.3,4 The average incremental direct cost increase during the six months after a polytrauma with a long bone fracture was estimated to be $39,041, with absenteeism and short-term disability costs amounting to an additional $7,200.3 The orthopaedic trauma population can present with isolated injuries or defined patterns of associated injuries.
For example, there is a known correlation between clavicle fractures and thoracic injuries, as well as a known correlation between calcaneus fractures and lumbar spine injuries.5,6 By appreciating these known associations, orthopaedic traumatologists are able to conduct a more focused evaluation for these injuries. Although associated injuries have been examined in patients with femoral and tibial fractures, these studies are limited because they involve small sample sizes and do not examine all associated bony and internal organ injuries. For example, Bennett et al. focused on femoral shaft fractures and only associated ipsilateral femoral neck fractures in a total of only 250 patients.7 As another example, Jung et al.
examined 71 patients with tibial shaft fractures to determine the frequency of concomitant ankle injuries.8 Although these studies provide useful information about specific associated injuries, they lack the statistical power to determine common associated injury patterns in patients with femoral and tibial shaft fractures. In light of this dearth of knowledge, the current thesis utilizes a large national sample from the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) to examine associated injuries in patients with femoral and tibial shaft fractures. The NTDB was constructed and is currently maintained by the American College of Surgeons, and is a database that utilizes registrar-abstracted data from over 900 US trauma centers and contains over five million cases.9,10,11 Because of its volume and national representation, it was specifically chosen to obtain an adequate study sample to analyze these fracture patients on a large scale. Section 1 of this thesis examines demographics, mechanism of injury, injury severity, associated injuries, and mortality in adult patients with femoral shaft fractures.
Section 2 examines demographics, mechanism of injury, injury severity, associated injuries, and mortality in adult patients with tibial shaft fractures This information will be essential in guiding the orthopaedic traumatologist and emergency medicine physician in deciding when to have a low threshold for suspecting associated injuries. 5 Section I Analysis of Bony and Internal Organ Injuries Associated with 26,357 Adult Femoral Shaft Fractures and Their Impact on Mortality. This section was published as follows: Anandasivam NS, Russo GS, Fischer JM, Samuel AM, Ondeck, NT, Swallow MS, Chung SH, Bohl DD, Grauer JN. Analysis of Bony and Internal Organ Injuries Associated with 26,357 Adult Femoral Shaft Fractures and Their Impact on Mortality.
PubMed ID: 28358976 Introduction Femoral shaft fractures are common following major traumas, such as motor vehicle accidents.1 In fact, a femoral shaft fracture occurs in approximately one in every ten road injuries.2 A recent study estimated that the incidence of femoral shaft fractures is about 1 to 2.9 million per year worldwide.2 The preferred treatment option of these severe injuries is intramedullary nails.3-5 This surgery has been shown to have good healing and recovery.6 Oftentimes fractures are not isolated injuries, and identifying associated injuries is important for patient care, especially in the seriously injured patient.7 For given injuries, there are often specific known patterns of associated injuries that can help direct patient workups and management. For example, such patterns of associated injuries have been described for calcaneus fractures (known association with lumbar fractures)8,9 and clavicle fractures (known association with lung injuries).10 Along with comorbidities and the patient’s general condition, associated injuries can impact the fracture management, time to surgery, and outcomes. 6 Given that femoral shaft fractures typically result from major trauma, they are frequently seen in polytrauma patients.11 However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has identified the associated injury profile for femoral shaft fractures. To address the lack of literature in this area, the current study sought to utilize the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB), the largest multi-center trauma repository, to define a large cohort of patients with femoral shaft fractures and assess associated injury profiles.
Furthermore, in order to assess the impact of such associated injuries, the correlations of such associated injuries with mortality were defined and compared to other factors believed to affect mortality in this patient population. 7 Methods The NTDB, created by the American College of Surgeons, is the largest national, multi-center trauma database and includes registrar abstracted and administratively coded data.12 It was established as a “repository of trauma related data voluntarily reported by participating trauma centers.”13 The current study utilized the NTDB to identify adult (18 years of age and older) patients with femoral shaft fractures from 2011 and 2012. This was based on International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision (ICD-9) codes for either open or closed femoral shaft fractures (821. Patient age, gender, and comorbidities were characterized.
Age was stratified into the following groups: 18 – 39 years old, 40 – 64 years old, and 65+ years old. The following comorbidities contained in NTDB were used to calculate a modified Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI): hypertension, alcoholism, diabetes, respiratory disease, obesity, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, prior cerebrovascular accident, liver disease, functionally dependent status, cancer, renal disease dementia, and peripheral vascular disease. These variables were used to calculate CCI based on a previously described algorithm.14 Of note, this modified CCI did not include an age component, and any mention of “CCI” in this paper always refers to this modified Charlson Comorbidity Index. Mechanism of injury was then determined from ICD-9 e-codes.
Patients were categorized into “fall”, motor vehicle accident (“MVA”), or “other.” Patients with a fall mechanism of injury were determined based on the following ICD-9 e-code ranges: 880. These primarily contained falls from standing height, ladders, buildings, and 8 sports. Patients with an MVA mechanism of injury were determined based on the following ICD-9 e-code ranges: 800-826, 829-830, 840-845, 958. These included patients who were involved in accidents as motor vehicle drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
All other e-codes were counted as “other”. These included firearm and machinery-related injuries, among others. Injury severity score (ISS) and mortality were data elements directly abstracted from NTDB. Associated injuries were identified by ICD-9 codes.
The diagnosis codes that were used to identify associated bony and internal organ injuries are shown in Appendices 1 and 2 (which have been used for a previously submitted associated injuries study).15 For analysis, Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 was used to visually demonstrate the associated injury frequencies by shadings on the skeleton and internal organ figures. The range of shadings from white to black represented increasing injury frequency. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association of age, modified CCI, and various associated injuries with mortality. All statistical analyses were conducted using Stata® version 13.
All tests were two-tailed and a two-sided α level of 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. A waiver for this study was issued by our institution’s Human Investigations Committee. 9 Results Patient demographics For 2011 and 2012, the NTDB included 26,357 adult patients (16,717 males and 9,640 females) who had femoral shaft fractures.