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. 2020 Jul 16:11:2151459320939546.
doi: 10.1177/2151459320939546. eCollection 2020.

High- Versus Low-Energy Acetabular Fracture Outcomes in the Geriatric Population

Alexa Cecil  1 , Jonathan W Yu  2 , Viviana A Rodriguez  2 , Adam Sima  2 , Jesse Torbert  2 , Jibanananda Satpathy  2 , Paul Perdue  2 , Clarence Toney  2 , Stephen Kates  1
Affiliations

High- Versus Low-Energy Acetabular Fracture Outcomes in the Geriatric Population

Alexa Cecil et al. Geriatr Orthop Surg Rehabil. .

Abstract

Introduction: High-energy mechanisms of acetabular fracture in the geriatric population are becoming increasingly common as older adults remain active later in life. This study compared outcomes for high- versus low-energy acetabular fractures in older adults.

Materials and methods: We studied outcomes of 22 older adults with acetabular fracture who were treated at a level-I trauma center over a 4-year period. Fourteen patients were categorized as low-energy mechanism of injury, and 8 were identified as a high-energy mechanism. We analyzed patient demographics with univariate logistic regressions performed to assess differences in high- and low-energy group as well as patient characteristics compared with surgical outcomes.

Results: Most high-energy mechanisms were caused by motor vehicle collision (n = 4, 50.0%), with most having posterior wall fractures (50.0%). Among patient characteristics, the mechanism of injury, hip dislocation, fracture types, and fracture gap had the largest differences between energy groups effect size (ES: 2.45, 1.43, 1.36, and 0.83, respectively). The high-energy group was more likely to require surgery (odds ratio [OR] = 2.80, 95% CI: 0.26-30.70), develop heterotopic bone (OR = 4.33, 95% CI: 0.33-57.65), develop arthritis (OR = 3.60, 95% CI: 0.45-28.56), and had longer time to surgery (mean = 4.8 days, standard deviation [SD] = 5.8 days) compared to low-energy group (mean = 2.5 days, SD = 2.3 days).

Discussion: The results of this case series confirm previous findings that patients with high-energy acetabular fractures are predominantly male, younger, and have fewer comorbidities than those who sustained low-energy fractures. Our results demonstrate that the majority of the high-energy fracture patients also suffered a concurrent hip dislocation with posterior wall fracture and experienced a longer time to surgery than the low-energy group.

Conclusion: Geriatric patients who sustained high-energy acetabular fractures tend to have higher overall rates of complications, including infection, traumatic arthritis, and heterotopic bone formation when compared with patients with a low-energy fracture mechanism.

Keywords: elderly trauma; geriatric acetabular fracture; geriatric trauma; ground-level fall; high energy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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