Predicting Outcomes After Distal Radius Fracture: A 24-Center International Clinical Trial of Older Adults.

Chung KC, Kim HM, Malay S, Shauver MJ, WRIST Group. Predicting Outcomes After Distal Radius Fracture: A 24-Center International Clinical Trial of Older Adults. The Journal of hand surgery. 2019 Sep 1; 44(9):762-771.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• CDA 17-169 – Assessing Treatment Delay and Resource Use to Improve Value of Pre-Surgical Care

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

PURPOSE: Current evidence on predictors of outcomes after distal radius fracture is often based on retrospective analyses or may be confounded by fracture type. Using data from the Wrist and Radius Injury Surgical Trial (WRIST), a 24-site randomized study of distal radius fracture treatment, in which all fractures are severe enough to warrant surgery, we set out to perform a secondary data analysis to explore predictors of better or worse hand outcomes. METHODS: The primary outcome measure was the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ) summary score 12 months after treatment. We used a regression tree analysis with recursive partitioning to identify subgroups of participants who experienced similar outcomes (ie, MHQ score) and to determine which baseline or treatment factors they had in common. RESULTS: Factors most predictive of 12-month MHQ score were pain at enrollment, education, age, and number of comorbidities. Specifically, participants who had a high school education or less and also reported severe pain had the lowest MHQ scores. Conversely, participants with less pain and more education and who were age 87 years or younger with one or no comorbid condition had the highest MHQ scores. Treatment type or radiographic measurements assessed on post-reduction films did not affect 12-month outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: These results identified patient characteristics that can be used by surgeons to identify subgroups of patients who may experience similar hand outcomes. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic III.