Quality of Life After Proximal Femoral Fractures Treated With Gamma Nail in Sudan.

Abstract

Background Hip fracture is a public health problem globally, and it poses one of the biggest challenges in healthcare due to its associated complications. Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the quality of life in adult patients in Khartoum State, Sudan, after they have undergone treatment using a gamma nail for proximal femoral fractures. Methodology This cross-sectional descriptive hospital-based study was conducted at Ibrahim Malik, Omdurman, and Bahri Teaching Hospitals over six months, from April to October 2022. The data were collected using an interview questionnaire that covered relevant aspects of the study. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, V. 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). The study was approved by the Sudan Medical Specialization Board, and ethical clearance was obtained. Results The study included 37 patients. More than half of the patients (59.5%, n=22) were women. The mean age of cases was 66.7 years (standard deviation, ±15.6). The mean time from the time of the fracture to the time of surgery was eight days (±15). Twenty-three (62.2%, n=23) (JRB1) of the patients started weight bearing on the second postoperative day. Regarding the health-related quality of life, 21.6% of the patients had a good health-related quality of life, 67.6% had a fair health-related quality of life, and 10.8% had a poor health-related quality of life. None of the patients reported an excellent quality of life. Based on the Oxford Hip Score, 54.1% of the patients had satisfactory joint function, 29.7% had mild to moderate hip joint function, 13.5% had moderate to severe hip joint function disturbance, and one patient (2.7%) had severe hip joint function problems. Conclusion In this study, the vast majority of the patients who underwent gamma nail surgery for hip fracture had quality of life scores in the fair to good range afterward. The results indicate that nailing is associated with good outcomes regarding quality of life and is an acceptable option for femoral fracture surgeries in Sudan.