The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). 2009;91:1313-1319.
doi:10.2106/JBJS.H.00448
© 2009 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
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Distal Radial Fracture Treatment: What You Get May Depend on Your Age and Address

Jason Fanuele, MD1, Kenneth J. Koval, MD2, Jon Lurie, MD2, Weiping Zhou, PhD2, Anna Tosteson, ScD2 and David Ring, MD, PhD3

1 Division of Hand Surgery, Department of Orthopedics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02215. E-mail address: Jason.fanuele{at}gmail.com
2 Department of Orthopaedics, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 1 Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756
3 Orthopaedic Hand and Upper Extremity Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Yawkey Center, Suite 2100, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114

Investigation performed at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire

Disclosure: In support of their research for or preparation of this work, one or more of the authors received, in any one year, outside funding or grants in excess of $10,000 from the National Institute on Aging (AG12262), Small Bone Innovations, Smith and Nephew, Wright Medical Technology, Tornier, and Acumed. Neither they nor a member of their immediate families received payments or other benefits or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity. No commercial entity paid or directed, or agreed to pay or direct, any benefits to any research fund, foundation, division, center, clinical practice, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which the authors, or a member of their immediate families, are affiliated or associated.

A commentary is available with the electronic versions of this article, on our web site (www.jbjs.org) and on our quarterly CD-ROM/DVD (call our subscription department, at 781-449-9780, to order the CD-ROM or DVD).

Background: Distal radial fractures are common and confer a considerable financial burden on the health-care system; however, controversy surrounds the optimal treatment of these injuries. This study was performed to determine (1) the rate of distal radial fractures in the U.S. Medicare population stratified by hospital referral region and (2) whether the type of fracture treatment is affected by patient age, race, sex, comorbidity, or hospital referral region.

Methods: A 20% sample of Medicare Part-B claims from the years 1998 through 2004 was analyzed. Procedural codes for nonoperative treatment, percutaneous fixation, and open reduction and internal fixation of distal radial fractures were identified. These codes were then used to determine the overall rate of distal radial fracture. The rates of distal radial fracture were then evaluated according to hospital referral region and patient age, sex, comorbidity, and race. The types of treatment were determined and were also analyzed on the basis of hospital referral region and patient age, sex, comorbidity, and race. Regression analysis was performed with use of the above variables.

Results: We identified 107,190 patients. The rate of distal radial fracture was 125 per 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries. The rate of the fracture in white individuals (136 per 10,000) was more than twice that in non-white individuals (fifty-nine per 10,000), and the rate in women (189 per 10,000) was 4.8 times higher than that in men (thirty-nine per 10,000). The overall fracture rate varied widely across the United States, from forty-seven per 10,000 beneficiaries in New Orleans, Louisiana, to 220 per 10,000 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Treatment rates were similar across race, with the rate of nonoperative treatment being 84% for white beneficiaries compared with 83% for non-white beneficiaries, the rate of percutaneous fixation being 11% for white beneficiaries compared with 10% for non-white beneficiaries, and the rate of open treatment being 6% for white beneficiaries compared with 7% for non-white beneficiaries. There was variation across the country, with the rate of nonoperative treatment ranging from 60% in San Luis Obispo, California, to 96% in Covington, Kentucky; the rate of percutaneous fixation ranging from 2% in Boulder, Colorado, to 39% in San Luis Obispo, California; and the rate of open treatment ranging from 0.4% in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to 25% in Great Falls, Montana. While the rates of percutaneous fixation and nonoperative treatment remained relatively stable, the overall rate of operative fixation nearly doubled from 5% in 1998 to 8% in 2004.

Conclusions: There is wide variation in the rate of distal radial fractures across sex, age, race, and geographic region in the United States. There is also significant variation in the treatment of these fractures, driven mainly by age and region. Between 1998 and 2004, a strong trend toward more frequent operative fixation was apparent. While white individuals had more than twice as many fractures as did non-white individuals, there did not appear to be significant racial variation in the treatment of this injury.

Clinical Relevance: The national and local variations in distal radial fractures and the ensuing treatment are key features in developing evidence-based medicine for this ubiquitous injury.


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