Table 3.
Baseline characteristics of male veterans by fracture group
| Characteristic |
Fracture Group |
P-valuea | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Upper Extremity (n = 183) | Single Lower Extremity (n = 664) | Multiple Fractures (n = 434) | ||
| Age (years), mean ± sd | 56.2 ± 12.3 | 56.6 ± 12.3 | 56.5 ± 11.6 | 0.84 |
| Race/ethnicity, n (%) | - | - | - | 0.94 |
| White | 106 (57.9) | 387 (58.3) | 262 (60.4) | - |
| Black | 21 (11.5) | 76 (11.4) | 41 (9.4) | - |
| Other | 1 (0.5) | 4 (0.6) | 4 (0.9) | - |
| Missing | 55 (30.1) | 197 (29.7) | 127 (29.3) | - |
| Level of Injuryb, n (%) | - | - | - | <0.001 |
| Paraplegia | 75 (41.0) | 381 (57.4) | 255 (58.8) | - |
| Tetraplegia | 77 (42.1) | 252 (38.0) | 143 (32.9) | - |
| Unknown | 31 (16.9) | 31 (4.7) | 36 (8.3) | - |
| Extent of Injuryc, n (%) | - | - | - | <0.001 |
| Complete | 29 (15.4) | 287 (43.2) | 168 (38.7) | - |
| Incomplete | 102 (55.7) | 246 (37.0) | 175 (40.3) | - |
| Missing | 52 (28.4) | 131 (19.7) | 91 (21.0) | - |
| Duration of Injury (years), mean ± sd | 21.0 ± 13.1 | 24.1 ± 14.2 | 24.4 ± 13.5 | 0.01 |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index,d mean ± sd | 1.2 ± 2.0 | 0.87 ± 1.9 | 0.73 ± 1.5 | 0.007 |
aANOVA for normally distributed continuous variables, Kruskal-Wallis for continuous variables not meeting normality assumptions, and χ2/Fisher's exact test for categorical variables. Due to multiple comparisons, statistical significance was set to P < 0.0083.
bAmong men with incident fracture, 711 (55.5%) of men had paraplegia, 472 (36.8%) had an incomplete injury, and information on level of injury was missing for 98 (7.6%) patients.
cAmong men with incident fracture, 484 (37.8%) of men had a complete injury, 523 (40.8%) had an incomplete injury, and information on extent of injury was missing for 274 (21.4%) patients.
dDoes not include index component for paraplegia/tetraplegia.