Postoperative infection may have negative impact on functional recovery after fracture
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Key takeaways:
- Results showed infection had a 3.3-point reduction in Veterans RAND 12-item physical component score.
- Researchers also found a moderating effect between pain severity and functional outcomes.
SEATTLE — Data presented here showed postoperative deep surgical site infection had a negative impact on functional recovery after treatment for tibial plateau, pilon or calcaneus fractures.
“There was a negative impact of postoperative infection on functional recovery and moderation effects the relative importance of interventions to reduce infection and also reduce issues such as pain severity, which we know is important for function,” Leah Gitajn, MD, MS, said in her presentation at the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting.
Gitajn and colleagues categorized patients aged 18 to 80 years with tibial plateau, pilon or calcaneus fractures into groups based on whether they had a deep surgical site infection (SSI). Researchers considered the Veterans-RAND 12-item (VR-12) physical component score at 6 months postoperatively as the primary outcome measure.
Gitajn said patients with deep SSI had a 3.3-point reduction in VR-12 scores 6 months postoperatively vs. patients without an infection. There was also a moderating effect between pain severity and functional outcomes when associated with deep SSI, according to Gitajn.
“This interaction or the moderating effect basically showed that there was a statistically significant difference between functional outcome among patients who had a deep surgical site infection and those who did not,” Gitajn said.
Gitajn also said there was no association between social support and physical function.
“We know that pain is important, and we see this in our clinical practice on a daily basis,” Gitajn said. “This demonstrated that pain outweighed the impact of the surgical site infection, which was a bit surprising.”
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Gitajn L, et al. Paper 83. Presented at: Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting; Oct. 18-21, 2023; Seattle.
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