The trajectory of patient-reported outcomes and minimal clinically important differences in isolated and polytraumatic pelvis and acetabular fractures.

PURPOSE: Patient-reported minimal clinically important differences (MCID) provide a standard to compare clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to calculate the MCID of PROMIS Physical Function (PF), Pain Interference (PI), Anxiety (AX), and Depression (DEP) scores in patients with pelvis and/or acetabular fractures.

METHODS

All patients with operatively treated pelvic and/or acetabular fractures were identified. Patients were categorized as either only pelvis and/or acetabular fractures (PA) or polytrauma (PT). PROMIS PF, PI, AX, and DEP scores were evaluated at 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month intervals. Distribution-based MCID and anchor-based MCID were calculated for the overall cohort, PA, and PT groups.

RESULTS

The overall distribution-based MCIDs were PF (5.19), PI (3.97), AX (4.33), and DEP (4.41). The overall anchor-based MCIDs were PF (7.18), PI (8.03), AX (5.85), DEP (5.00). The percentage of patients achieving MCID for AX was 39.8-54% at 3 months and 32.7-56% at 12 months. The percentage of patients achieving MCID for DEP was 35.7-39.3% at 3 months and 32.1-35.7% at 12 months. The PT group had worse PROMIS PF scores than the PA group at all time points [post-operative, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month scores, (28.3 (6.3) vs. 26.8 (6.8) P = 0.016), (38.1 (9.2) vs. 35.0 (8.7) P = 0.037), (42.8 (8.2) vs. 39 (9.6) P = 0.015), (46.2 (9.7) vs. 41.2 (9.7) P = 0.011)].

CONCLUSION

An overall MCID for PROMIS PF was 5.19-7.18, PROMIS PI 3.97-8.03, PROMIS AX of 4.33-5.85, and PROMIS DEP of 4.41-5.00. The PT group had worse PROMIS PF at all time points. The percentage of patients achieving MCID for AX and DEP plateaued at 3 months post-operatively.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV.