Objective: To determine (1) the incidence of delayed surgical treatment, (2) risk factors associated with delayed surgical intervention, (3) inpatient adverse events and discharge disposition, and (4) the association of delayed surgery with inpatient adverse events.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: 2011 and 2012 National Trauma Data Bank.
Patients/participants: All adult patients younger than 50 years of age with femoral neck fractures.
Intervention: Not applicable.
Main outcome measures: (1) Time to surgical intervention after inpatient admission, (2) odds ratio (OR) for delayed surgery (later than 24 hours after admission), (3) incidence of inpatient adverse events and discharge disposition, (3) rates of inpatient adverse events and discharge disposition, and (4) OR for occurrence of serious adverse events, minor adverse events, and any adverse events.
Results: Of a total of 1361 patients, 67.8% of patients underwent surgery within 24 hours of presentation. In multivariate analysis (controlling for patient and injury characteristics), Charlson comorbidity index of 3+ compared with Charlson comorbidity index of 0 (OR: 3.62), pelvic fracture (OR: 2.01), and treatment at an American College of Surgeons level I trauma center (compared with levels II-IV; OR: 1.56) were associated with delayed surgery. The overall rate of mortality and inpatient adverse events was 0.2% and 12.1%, respectively. Delayed surgery was independently associated with increased occurrence of serious adverse events, minor adverse events, and any adverse events.
Conclusions: Although a majority of nonelderly patients with femoral neck fractures underwent surgery within the first 24 hours of admission and had good outcomes in the short-term, certain subpopulations have a higher risk of delayed surgery. As delayed surgery is associated with worse outcomes, and short-term and long-term outcomes, efforts should focus on expediting care of these patients.
Level of evidence: Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.