Abstract
Introduction:Distal radial fracture is a commonly encountered fracture. This study aims to study the epidemiology of distal radial fracture and factors affecting the patients’ functional outcome one to two years after the injury.Materials and methods:This is a retrospective cohort study. The records of patients, fulfilling the radiographical diagnosis of distal radial fracture, and aged 18 and above, who presented to our Emergency Department from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018 were retrieved. According to AO classification, we grouped our patients into A (extra-articular), B (partial articular) and C (complete articular). Patients with congenital abnormalities were excluded. Epidemiological data and relevant medical history were obtained and tabulated. A Malaysian language translation of Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire was used to assess the functional outcome.Results:Out of 168 patients’ data retrieved, only 110 patients’ data were found complete for purposes of this study. The mean DASH score was 13.7 ± 7.87 approximately one to two years post-injury regardless of treatment method. Increasing age was associated with higher DASH score with r=0.407(p<0.001). Several variables had significantly better functional outcome: male gender (p=0.01), Type A fracture configuration (p=0.007) and non-operational treatment (p=0.03). There was no significant difference between treatment modalities in Type A fracture (p=0.094), but Type B (p=0.043) and Type C (p=0.007) had better outcome without surgery. There was no significant difference between different ethnic groups, open or closed fracture and mechanism of injury.Conclusion:Better functional outcome after sustaining distal radial fracture was associated with young age, male gender, type A fracture and treated non-operatively. Interestingly, more complex fracture pattern had better functionality were observed without surgery.
Highlights
Distal radial fracture is a commonly encountered fracture
Several epidemiological studies of the injury and the ensuing functional outcome had been conducted in the countries such as Iceland[9] and United States[10], but limited articles were available in South East Asia, Malaysia
This study design is retrospective cohort and included all 327 patients presenting to the Emergency Department from January 2018 to December 2018 with initial diagnosis of distal radius fractures
Summary
This study aims to study the epidemiology of distal radial fracture and factors affecting the patients’ functional outcome one to two years after the injury. Conclusion: Better functional outcome after sustaining distal radial fracture was associated with young age, male gender, type A fracture and treated non-operatively. At the same time, sustaining the fracture would affect the quality of life of the patients, especially in the elderly Several factors such as age[1,2,3], gender[1,2,3,4], mechanism of injury, type of fracture[5,6] and treatment modalities[5,6,7,8] have been recognised as factors affecting functional outcome. Several epidemiological studies of the injury and the ensuing functional outcome had been conducted in the countries such as Iceland[9] and United States[10], but limited articles were available in South East Asia, Malaysia
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