Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients with flail chest or multiple rib fractures before propensity score matching
| Variable | Multiple rib fractures | Flail chest | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surgery (n = 28) | Non-operative (n = 212) | p value | SMD unmatched cohort | SMD matched cohort | Surgery (n = 37) | Non-operative (n = 55) | p value | SMD unmatched cohort | SMD matched cohort | |
| Age (mean ± SD) | ||||||||||
| Male (n, %) | ||||||||||
| ASA-score (n, %) | 0.363 | 0.270 | 0.040 | 0.195 | 0.452 | 0.029 | ||||
| 1–2 | 26 (93) | 179 (84) | 37 (100) | 50 (91) | ||||||
| > 2 | 2 (7) | 33 (16) | 0 (0) | 5 (9) | ||||||
| Trauma mechanism (n, %) | 0.661 | 0.181 | 0.081 | 0.439 | 0.273 | 0.175 | ||||
| Motor vehicle accident | 8 (29) | 74 (35) | 14 (38) | 14 (26) | ||||||
| Fall from height/stairs | 11 (39) | 66 (31) | 10 (27) | 19 (35) | ||||||
| Other | 9 (32) | 72 (34) | 13 (35) | 22 (40) | ||||||
| ISS (mean ± SD) | 21 (9.4) | 21 (9.6) | 0.933 | 0.017 | 0.077 | 25 (12) | 30 (13) | 0.054 | 0.418 | 0.050 |
| TTSS (mean ± SD) | 10 (3.6) | 9.3 (2.9) | 0.237 | 0.242 | 0.101 | 13.1 (3.1) | 13 (2.9) | 0.951 | 0.014 | 0.087 |
| AIS (median, IQR) | ||||||||||
| Head | 0 (0–1) | 1 (0–3) | 0.008 | 0.576 | 0.088 | 0 (0–3) | 3 (0.3–4) | 0.001 | 0.722 | 0.050 |
| Face | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0.138 | 0.269 | 0.053 | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–0.5) | 0.796 | 0.077 | 0.069 |
| Thorax | 3 (3–4) | 3 (3–3) | 0.010 | 0.567 | 0.017 | 3 (3–4) | 4 (3–4) | 0.149 | 0.301 | 0.102 |
| Abdomen | 2 (0–2) | 0 (0–0) | < 0.001 | 0.585 | 0.016 | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–0.5) | 0.238 | 0.244 | 0.118 |
| Extremities | 1 (0–2.3) | 2 (0–2) | 0.770 | 0.079 | 0.040 | 2 (0–3) | 2 (0–3) | 0.442 | 0.164 | 0.097 |
| No. of rib fractures (median, IQR) | 7 (6–10.3) | 6 (4–8) | 0.001 | 0.643 | 0.096 | 10 (8–12) | 9 (7–13) | 0.405 | 0.049 | 0.059 |
| Bilateral rib fractures (n, %) | 10 (36) | 69 (33) | 0.904 | 0.067 | 0.041 | 14 (38) | 25 (46) | 0.610 | 0.155 | 0.037 |
| Concomitant injuries (n, %) | ||||||||||
| Pulmonary contusion | 11 (39) | 99 (47) | 0.561 | 0.159 | 0.017 | 22 (60) | 38 (69) | 0.467 | 0.202 | 0.094 |
| Pneumothorax | 19 (68) | 117 (55) | 0.285 | 0.263 | 0.058 | 27 (73) | 47 (86) | 0.226 | 0.311 | 0.071 |
| Hemothorax | 3 (11) | 37 (18) | 0.529 | 0.195 | 0.059 | 9 (24) | 22 (40) | 0.182 | 0.340 | 0.041 |
| Sternum fracture | 5 (18) | 24 (11) | 0.491 | 0.186 | 0.071 | 5 (14) | 9 (16) | 0.938 | 0.080 | 0.053 |
| Blood pH (mean ± SD) | 7.34 (0.12) | 7.32 (0.08) | 0.308 | 0.173 | 0.046 | 7.33 (0.1) | 7.27 (0.13) | 0.034 | 0.475 | 0.036 |
| Base excess (mean ± SD) | − 2.4 (5.6) | − 3.1 (3.5) | 0.367 | 0.154 | 0.052 | − 2.6 (3.5) | − 4.7 (6.2) | 0.063 | 0.426 | 0.068 |
Bold values indicate significant p values (< 0.05)
SMD standardized mean difference; ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists; ISS injury severity score; TTSS thoracic trauma severity score; AIS abbreviated injury score; SD standard deviation; IQR interquartile range