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Satisfaction increased with time in older patients with distal radius fractures
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LAS VEGAS — Patients 60 years of age or older reported satisfaction with treatment of distal radius fractures when they recovered slightly more than half of their grip strength and two-thirds of their wrist arc of motion, according to results presented here.
Sarah Sasor, MD, and colleagues randomly assigned 190 patients aged 60 years or older with isolated distal radius fractures to undergo volar plating, closed reduction and pinning, or external fixation. Sasor noted they also analyzed patients who met surgical criteria but preferred casting.
“For this project, all patients, regardless of their treatment type, were analyzed as one cohort,” Sasor said in her presentation at the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting. “Grip strength and wrist arc of motion were measured postoperatively, and the [Michigan Hand Questionnaire] MHQ was used to evaluate patient satisfaction at 3, 6 and 12 months.”
The percentage of patients satisfied with grip strength increased with time, according to Sasor.
“The optimal cut-off point to distinguish satisfaction occurred when patients had recovered just over half of their grip strength,” she said.
Sasor added cut-off points for satisfaction with wrist motion were 67% at 3 months, 74% at 6 months and 79% at 12 months.
“As time goes on, patients required more strength and motion to reach the satisfaction threshold and that makes sense since patients expect to return to normal in time and functional measures lost their predictive value with time,” Sasor said. “At 12 months, patients have probably gained whatever motion and strength they are going to get back and these things probably become less important then.” – by Casey Tingle
Reference:
Sasor S, et al. Abstract 60. Presented at: American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting; Sept. 5-7, 2019; Las Vegas.
Disclosure: Sasor reports no relevant financial disclosures.