Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 17;11(1):10443.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-90008-w.

The epidemiology of fracture-related infections in Germany

Nike Walter #  1   2 , Markus Rupp #  3 , Siegmund Lang  1 , Volker Alt  1
Affiliations

The epidemiology of fracture-related infections in Germany

Nike Walter et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The epidemiology of fracture-related infection (FRI) is unknown, which makes it difficult to estimate future demands and evaluate progress in infection prevention. Therefore, we aimed to determine the nationwide burden's development over the last decade as a function of age group and gender. FRI prevalence as a function of age group and gender was quantified based on annual ICD-10 diagnosis codes from German medical institutions between 2008 through 2018, provided by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis). The prevalence of FRI increased by 0.28 from 8.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants to 10.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants between 2008 and 2018. The proportion of fractures resulting in FRI increased from 1.05 to 1.23%. Gender distribution was equal. Patients aged 60-69 years and 70-79 years comprised the largest internal proportion with 20.2% and 20.7%, respectively, whereby prevalence increased with age group. A trend towards more diagnoses in older patients was observed with a growth rate of 0.63 for patients older than 90 years. Increasing rates of fracture-related infection especially in older patients indicate an upcoming challenge for stakeholders in health care systems. Newly emerging treatment strategies, prevention methods and interdisciplinary approaches are strongly required.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Development of FRI prevalence from 2008 to 2018. The prevalence of men diagnosed with FRI is shown in light grey, the prevalence of female cases is illustrated in dark grey.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Development of FRI prevalence from 2008 to 2018 as a function of age group in 10-year increments.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Development of the internal proportion of male FRI cases divided by age group. (B) Development of the internal proportion of female FRI cases divided by age group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Metsemakers WJ, et al. Infection after fracture fixation: current surgical and microbiological concepts. Injury. 2018;49(3):511–522. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2016.09.019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Metsemakers WJ, et al. Prevention of fracture-related infection: a multidisciplinary care package. Int. Orthop. 2017;41(12):2457–2469. doi: 10.1007/s00264-017-3607-y. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Trampuz A, Zimmerli W. Diagnosis and treatment of infections associated with fracture fixation devices. Injury. 2006;37:59–66. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2006.04.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ktistakis I, Giannoudi M, Giannoudis PV. Infection rates after open tibial fractures: are they decreasing? Injury. 2014;45:1025. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2014.03.022. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amin S, Achenbach SJ, Atkinson EJ, Khosla S, Melton LJ., 3rd Trends in fracture incidence: a population-based study over 20 years. J. Bone Miner. Res. 2014;29(3):581–589. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.2072. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms