Complications and its impact in patients with closed and open tibial shaft fractures requiring open reduction and internal fixation.

Aim: To evaluate the rates of infection and nonunion and determine the impact of infections on healthcare resource use and costs following open and closed fractures of the tibial shaft requiring open reduction internal fixation.

Methods

Healthcare use and costs were compared between patients with and without infections following pen reduction internal fixation using MarketScan® databases.

Results

For commercial patients, the rates of infection and nonunion ranged from 1.82 to 7.44% and 0.48 to 8.75%, respectively, over the 2-year period. Patients with infection had significantly higher rates of hospital readmissions, emergency room visits and healthcare costs compared with patients without infection.

Conclusion

This real-world study showed an increasing rate of infection up to 2 years and infection significantly increased healthcare resource use and costs.