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
. 2025 Jan 22;35(1):56.
doi: 10.1007/s00590-025-04173-z.

Insulin dependence as an independent predictor of complications following surgical treatment of distal radius fracture

Affiliations

Insulin dependence as an independent predictor of complications following surgical treatment of distal radius fracture

Allen Bramian et al. Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol. .

Abstract

Purpose: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a well-established risk factor for postoperative complications. Distal radius fractures (DRFs) are a common orthopedic injury and often require open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF). The rise of ORIF utilization warrants investigation into factors that may expose patients to postoperative complications following DRF ORIF.

Methods: We queried the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database for cases of DRF ORIF between 2015 and 2021. Cases were stratified into cohorts based on diabetes mellitus (DM) status. The DM cohort was further stratified into non-insulin-dependent DM (NIDDM) and insulin-dependent DM (IDDM) groups. Bivariate logistic regression was performed to compare patient demographics, comorbidities, and 30-day postoperative complications. Multivariate logistic regressions were performed to identify associations between diabetes mellitus status and postoperative complications.

Results: A total of 27,761 cases of DRF ORIF were identified from 2015 to 2021. After exclusion criteria were applied, 25,971 cases remained, of which 2169 (8.4%) cases had DM and 23,802 (91.6%) cases were free of DM. Within the DM cohort, there were 1392 cases in the NIDDM subgroup and 777 cases in the IDDM subgroup. Relative to the cohort without diabetes, the IDDM cohort was independently associated with sepsis, septic shock, reintubation, myocardial infarction, blood transfusion, failure to wean off mechanical ventilation, readmission, and nonhome discharge.

Conclusion: Having IDDM was independently associated with higher rates of postoperative sepsis, septic shock, reintubation, myocardial infarction, blood transfusion, failure to wean off ventilation, readmission, and nonhome discharge when compared to the cohort without diabetes following DRF ORIF.

Level of evidence: Level III; Retrospective cohort comparison; Prognosis study.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Distal radius fracture; Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; Open reduction internal fixation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

References

    1. Candela V, Di Lucia P, Carnevali C, Milanese A, Spagnoli A, Villani C, Gumina S (2022) Epidemiology of distal radius fractures: a detailed survey on a large sample of patients in a suburban area. J Orthop Traumatol 23(1):43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s10195-022-00663-6 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Court-Brown CM, Caesar B (2006) Epidemiology of adult fractures: a review. Injury 37(8):691–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2006.04.130 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brogren E, Petranek M, Atroshi I (2007) Incidence and characteristics of distal radius fractures in a southern Swedish region. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 8:48. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-8-48 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Lim JA, Loh BL, Sylvestor G, Khan W (2021) Perioperative management of distal radius fractures. J Perioper Pract 31(10):1750458920949463. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750458920949463 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Azad A, Kang HP, Alluri RK, Vakhshori V, Kay HF, Ghiassi A (2019) Epidemiological and treatment trends of distal radius fractures across multiple age groups. J Wrist Surg 8(4):305–311. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-1685205 - DOI - PubMed - PMC

LinkOut - more resources