Table 1.
Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics by study arm
| Randomized Participants | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VLPS | External Fixation |
Percutaneous Pinning |
Casting | ||
| Enrolled, n | 65 | 64 | 58 | 109 | p-valueb |
| Female, n (%) | 55 (85%) | 59 (92%) | 49 (84%) | 93 (85%) | 0.57 |
| Age, mean (SD) | 67 (6.2) | 70 (8.4) | 68 (7.0) | 76 (10) | <0.001 |
| median (range)a | 66 (59-85) | 68 (59-92) | 67 (58-84) | 75 (59-97) | |
| Race, n (%) | |||||
| Asian | 1 (2%) | 3 (3%) | 4 (7%) | 16 (15%) | 0.10 |
| Black | 3 (5%) | 6 (9%) | 2 (3%) | 6 (6%) | |
| White | 58 (92%) | 54 (84%) | 52 (90%) | 85 (78%) | |
| other | 1 (2%) | 1 (3%) | 0 | 2 (2%) | |
| missing | 2 (3%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Education, n (%) | |||||
| High school diploma/GED or less | 21 (34%) | 18 (29%) | 23 (40%) | 47 (44%) | 0.63 |
| Vocational school/associate’s degree/ some college | 19 (31%) | 18 (29%) | 20 (35%) | 30 (28%) | |
| Bachelor’s degree+ | 21 (34%) | 27 (43%) | 14 (25%) | 31 (29%) | |
| missing | 4 (6%) | 1 (2%) | 1 (2%) | 1 (1%) | |
| Employment – baseline, n (%) | |||||
| Full-time | 13 (21%) | 12 (19%) | 11 (20%) | 9 (9%) | 0.27 |
| Part-time | 7 (11%) | 8 (13%) | 7 (13%) | 12 (12%) | |
| Retired | 36 (57%) | 38 (61%) | 36 (65%) | 72 (73%) | |
| Receiving disability | 2 (3%) | 3 (4%) | 0 | 2 (2%) | |
| Unemployed | 5 (8%) | 1 (2%) | 1 (2%) | 4 (4%) | |
| missing | 2 (3%) | 2 (3%) | 3 (6%) | 10 (9%) | |
| Household Income, n (%) | |||||
| <$20,000 | 10 (18%) | 13 (22%) | 8 (16%) | 31 (32%) | 0.23 |
| $20,000 - $39,000 | 15 (26%) | 14 (24%) | 13 (25%) | 32 (33%) | |
| $40,000 - $59,999 | 12 (21%) | 15 (25%) | 9 (18%) | 14 (14%) | |
| $60,000+ | 20 (35%) | 17 (29%) | 21 (41%) | 21 (21%) | |
| missing | 8 (13%) | 5 (8%) | 7 (13%) | 11 (10%) | |
| RAPA Functional Status – pre-injury, n (%) | |||||
| Sedentary | 8 (13%) | 7 (11%) | 3 (6%) | 16 (15%) | 0.12 |
| Under-active | 27 (42%) | 30 (47%) | 29 (50%) | 62 (57%) | |
| Active | 29 (45%) | 27 (42%) | 26 (43%) | 30 (28%) | |
| missing | 1 (2%) | 0 | 0 | 1 (1%) | |
| Smoking status, n (%) | |||||
| Never | 28 (44%) | 40 (63%) | 31 (53%) | 56 (51%) | 0.37 |
| Former, <10 years | 4 (6%) | 1 (2%) | 4 (7%) | 2 (2%) | |
| Former, 10+ years | 24 (38%) | 17 (27%) | 17 (29%) | 42 (39%) | |
| Current | 8 (13%) | 6 (9%) | 6 (10%) | 9 (8%) | |
| Missing | 1 (2%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| No. comorbidities, mean (SD) | 3.1 (2.2) | 3.6 (2.5) | 3.4 (2.1) | 3.8 (2.7) | 0.62 |
| median (range) | 3 (0-11) | 3 (0-12) | 4 (0-10) | 3 (0-12) | |
| AO class, n (%) | |||||
| A1 | 0 | 1 (2%) | 0 | 1 (1%) | 0.77 |
| A2 | 33 (52%) | 26 (42%) | 30 (57%) | 40 (44%) | |
| A3 | 4 (6%) | 9 (14%) | 7 (9%) | 12 (13%) | |
| C1 | 3 (5%) | 3 (5%) | 3 (4%) | 10 (11%) | |
| C2 | 20 (31%) | 20 (35%) | 16 (30%) | 25 (28%) | |
| C3 | 1 (2%) | 1 (2%) | 0 | 2 (2%) | |
| Missing | 4 (6%) | 4 (6%) | 2 (3%) | 19 (17%) | |
| Ulnar styloid fracture, n (%) | |||||
| Yes | 27 (42%) | 31 (48%) | 19 (33%) | 47 (43%) | 0.11 |
| No | 35 (54%) | 29 (45%) | 37 (64%) | 41 (38%) | |
| Missing | 3 (5%) | 4 (6%) | 2 (3%) | 21 (19%) | |
| Fracture to enrollment, days | |||||
| mean (SD) | 5.0 (3.8) | 4.9 (3.6) | 5.5 (3.9) | 7.8 (5.2) | <0.0001 |
| median (range) | 4 (0-14) | 4 (0-17) | 4 (0-16) | 7 (0-22) | |
a:
In the early phases of the study 5 participants under age 60 years were enrolled
b:
Comparisons between the combined randomized arms vs. casting group, based on chi-square tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables.