Table 1.
Baseline patient and injury characteristics
| Removed K-wires (N = 164) |
Retained K-wires (N = 15) |
p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | t test |
| Age (years) | 44 | 14 | 43 | 14 | 0.87 |
| Male sex | 120 | 73.2% | 9 | 60.0% | 0.28 |
| Race | 0.24 | ||||
| Black or African | 10 | 6.1% | 0 | – | |
| American | |||||
| White | 16 | 9.8% | 3 | 20.0% | |
| Asian | 6 | 3.7% | 0 | – | |
| Multiple | 6 | 3.7% | 1 | 6.7% | |
| Other | 118 | 72.0% | 10 | 66.7% | |
| Not stated | 8 | 4.9% | 1 | 6.7% | |
| Ethnicity | 0.17 | ||||
| Not Hispanic/Latino | 54 | 32.9% | 5 | 33.3% | |
| Mexican | 62 | 37.8% | 5 | 33.3% | |
| Spanish | 1 | 0.6% | 0 | – | |
| Central American | 20 | 12.2% | 3 | 20.0% | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 10 | 6.1% | 1 | 6.7% | |
| Latin American | 7 | 4.3% | 1 | 6.7% | |
| South American | 1 | 0.6% | 0 | – | |
| Multiple | 2 | 1.2% | 0 | – | |
| Not stated | 7 | 4.3% | 0 | – | |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 29 | 6.5 | 31 | 6.3 | 0.23 |
| CCI score | 0.93 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.44 |
| Osteopenia | 10 | 6.1% | 0 | – | 1.00 |
| Osteoporosis | 1 | 0.6% | 0 | – | 1.00 |
| Corticosteroid use | 3 | 1.8% | 0 | – | 1.00 |
| Alcohol abuse | 0.22 | ||||
| Former | 4 | 2.4% | 0 | – | |
| Active | 20 | 12.2% | 0 | – | |
| Smoking | 0.20 | ||||
| Former | 10 | 6.1% | 1 | 6.7% | |
| Active | 46 | 28.0% | 6 | 40.0% | |
| Homeless | 5 | 3.0% | 0 | – | 1.00 |
| AO/OTA classification | 0.16 | ||||
| 41B1 | 4 | 2.4% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| 41B3 | 88 | 53.7% | 9 | 60.0% | |
| 41C1 | 12 | 7.3% | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 41C2 | 19 | 11.6% | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 41C3 | 41 | 25.0% | 4 | 26.7% | |
| Schatzker Classification | 0.24 | ||||
| I | 1 | 0.6% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| II | 69 | 42.1% | 9 | 60.0% | |
| IV | 21 | 12.8% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| V | 15 | 9.1% | 2 | 13.3% | |
| VI | 58 | 35.4% | 4 | 26.7% | |
| Medial coronal fracture | 41 | 25.0% | 6 | 40.0% | 1 |
| Meniscus repair | 43 | 26.2% | 8 | 53.3% | 1 |
| Days to surgery | 17 | 9.3 | 36 | 67 | 0.28 |
| Weight bearing compliance | 160 | 97.6% | 15 | 100.0% | 1 |
| Follow-up (days) | 208 | 242 | 306 | 374 | 0.34 |
BMI, body mass index; kg, kilograms; m, meters; CCI, Charlson comorbidity index; AO/OTA, arbeitsgemeinschaft für osteosynthesefragen/orthopaedic Trauma association