Sequelae from clavicular fractures are common

Figures & data

Table 1.  The demographic and baseline characteristics of the 245 patients who were included in the study, and of the 222 patients who attended the 24-week follow-up visit

Variable	All clavicular fractures
	included	attending the 24 weeks follow-up
	n = 245	n = 222
Age, mean (SD)	31 (13)	31 (13)
Sex
Female, n (%)	68 (28)	64 (29)
Male, n (%)	177 (72)	158 (71)
Smoking
Yes, n(%)	99 (49)	94 (50)
No, n (%)	101 (51)	94 (50)
Injured side
Dx, n (%)	118 (48)	106 (48)
Sin, n (%)	127 (52)	116 (52)
Dominant side
Dx, n (%)	212 (92)	194 (92)
Sin, n (%)	19 (8)	17 (8)
Location
Acromial, n (%)	66 (27)	61 (27)
Middle, n (%)	175 (71)	157 (71)
Sternal, n (%)	4 (2)	4 (2)
Intraarticular
Yes, n (%)	6 (2)	5 (2)
No, n (%)	239 (98)	217 (98)
Angulated
Yes, n (%)	28 (11)	25 (11)
No, n (%)	217 (89)	197 (89)
Fracture type
Comminute, n (%)	99 (41)	88 (40)
Spiral/oblique, n (%)	94 (38)	86 (39)
Transverse, n (%)	52 (21)	48 (22)
Transversely placed fragments
Yes, (%)	31 (32)	28 (33)
No, (%)	66 (68)	58 (67)
Number of fragments (%)
0	146 (60)	134 (61)
1	38 (16)	33 (15)
2	49 (20)	44 (20)
≥ 3	12 (4)	11 (4)
Displacement
0° view (bone width)
< 0.5	118 (48)	106 (48)
0.5–1.5	82 (34)	75 (34)
1.5–2.5	45 (18)	41 (18)
45° view (bone width)
< 0.5	111 (45)	102 (46)
0.5–1.5	72 (30)	65 (29)
1.5–2.5	52 (21)	46 (21)
≥ 2.5	10 (4)	9 (4)
Shortening 0° view
Yes (%)	35 (15)	34 (16)
No (%)	204 (85)	183 (84)
Shortening 45° view
Yes (%)	23 (10)	22 (10)
No (%)	217 (90)	196 (90)

Figure 1. Symptoms of clavicular fractures. Relative frequency (%) of patients with different types of symptoms at follow-up visits 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks after injury. The patients were divided into three different subgroups:sequelae for < 6 months, sequelae for ≥ 6 months, and nonunion

Table 2a.  Outcome variables at 24 weeks after the clavicular injury by patient characteristics at the time of injury

Characteristics at the time of injury	Pain at rest			Pain during activity			Strength reduction			Paresthesia
	yes	no	p-value	yes	no	p-value	yes	no	p-value	yes	no	p-value
n	64	155		86	133		90	129		23	199
Age, mean	38	29	<0.001	36	28	<0.001	35	28	<0.001	38	30.4	0.005
(SD)	13	12		13	12		13	12		13	12.6
Sex
Female	21	43	0.5	31	33	0.07	31	33	0.2	8	56	0.5
Male	43	112		55	100		59	96		15	143
Smoking
Yes	32	59	0.05	40	51	0.2	40	51	0.04	10	84	0.6
No	21	73		32	62		36	58		8	86
Location
Acromial	17	44	0.8	22	39	0.8	26	35	0.8	6	55	0.8
Middle	45	109		62	92		62	92		17	140
(Sternal)	2	2		2	2		2	2		0	4
Fracture type
Comminute	37	49		42	44		49	37		13	75
Spiral/oblique	17	68	0.002	31	54	0.04	27	58	<0.001	6	80	0.2
Transverse	10	38		13	35		14	34		4	44
Intraarticular
Yes	1	4	0.6	1	4	0.4	2	3	1.0	0	5	0.4
No	63	151		85	129		88	126		23	194
Angulated
Yes No	4	21	0.1	8	17	0.4	6	19	0.06	1	24	0.3
Yes No	60	134		78	116		84	110		22	175
Comminute
Transverse	10	17	0.5	13	14	0.9	16	11	0.7	3	25	0.4
Not transverse	24	31		28	25		31	16		10	18
Displacement
0° view (bone width)
< 0.5	21	84		35	70		33	72		10	96
0.5–1.5	25	48	0.003	30	43	0.05	37	36	0.01	4	71	0.3
1.5–2.5	18	23		21	20		20	21		9	32
45° view (bone width)
< 0.5	19	83		31	71		29	73		6	96
0.5-1.5	21	43	<0.001	27	37	0.007	28	36	<0.001	10	55	0.1
1.5-2.5	21	24		25	20		29	16		7	39
≥ 2.5	3	5		3	5		4	4		0	9
Shortening 0° view
Yes	12	20	0.03	14	18	0.6	14	18	0.8	4	30	0.8
No	51	131		71	111		75	107		19	164
Shortening 45° view
Yes	8	12	0.3	8	12	1.0	9	11	0.7	2	20	0.8
No	55	140		77	118		80	115		21	175

Table 2b. Outcome variables at 24 weeks after the clavicular injury by patient characteristics at the time of injury

Characteristics at the time of injury	Cosmesis			Sequelae 6 months			Nonunion
	yes	no	p-value	yes	no	p-value	yes	no	p-value
n	73	140		93	126		15	230
Age, mean	35	29	<0.001	36	28	<0.001	34	30.8	0.3
(SD)	13	12		13	12		12	12.9
Sex
Female	25	39	0.3	33	31	0.08	9	59	0.004
Male	48	101		60	95		6	171
Smoking
Yes	29	56	0.8	40	51	0.7	5	94	0.4
No	30	64		39	55		8	93
Location
Acromial	14	45	0.05	21	40	0.1	5	61	0.5
Middle	57	93		70	84		9	166
(Sternal)	2	2		2	2		1	3
Fracture type
Comminute	41	42		50	36		2	97
Spiral/oblique	19	63	<0.001	29	56	<0.001	9	85	0.08
Transverse	13	35		14	34		4	48
Intraarticular
Yes No	1 72	3 137	0.6	1 93	4 122	0.3	0 15	6 224	0.5
Angulated
Yes	6	17	0.4	8	17	0.3	0	28	0.5
No	67	123		85	109		15	202
Comminute
Transverse	18	9	0.03	17	10	0.5	1	30	0.6
Not transverse	22	32		32	25		1	65
Displacement
0° view (bone width)
< 0.5	24	77		33	72		3	115
0.5–1.5	30	42	0.001	37	36	0.001	6	76	0.006
1.5–2.5	19	21		23	18		6	39
45° view (bone width)
< 0.5	19	80		29	73		3	108
0.5–1.5	25	36	<0.001	31	33	<0.001	7	65	0.07
1.5–2.5	25	20		28	17		5	47
≥ 2.5	4	4		5	3		0	10
Shortening 0° view
Yes	15	17	0.1	16	16	0.4	2	33	1.0
No	58	119		76	126		12	192
Shortening 45° view
Yes	9	11	0.3	10	10	0.5	1	22	0.7
No	64	126		82	113		13	204