Table 1.
Studies on comparing conservative and operative treatment of rib fractures
| Author | Year | Country | Number of patients | Male (%) | Age, IQR/SD | ISS, IQR/SD | Flail chest (%) | Fractured ribs, IQR/SD | Mortality (%) | Pneumonia (%) | HLOS days, IQR/SD | ILOS days, IQR/SD | DMV days IQR/SD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative treatment | |||||||||||||
| Fitzgerald [14] | 2017 | USA | 50 | NR | 75 (65–97) | 19 (14–23) | NR | NR | 2 (4) | 7 (14) | 17 (10–23) | 12 (7–17) | NR |
| Chen Zhu [13] | 2020 | USA | 758 | 518 (68) | 72 (68–79) | NR | 348 (46) | NR | 55 (7.3) | 8 (1) | 7 (4–12) | 4 (2–8) | 7 (3–14) |
| Pieracci [15] | 2021 | USA | 227 | 116 (51) | 86 (80–99) | 13 (4–34) | 36 (16) | 5 (1–17) | 21 (9) | 9 (4) | 6 | 0 | NR |
| Ali-Osman [17] | 2018 | USA | 135 | 73 (54) | 72 (66–81) | 14 (8–24) | NR | 5 (3–7.25) | 13 (9.6) | 16 (12) | 4.8 (2.9–8.4) | 4 (3–7) | 4 (1–10) |
| Kane [16] | 2018 | USA | 392 | NR | 75.4 ± 6.8 | 14.1 ± 10.3 | NR | NR | 33 (8) | 54 (14) | 5 (3–9) | 0 (0–3) | NR |
| Weighted subtotal | 1562 | 63% | 74.9 | 14.1 | 39% | 5 | 8% | 6% | 6.5 days | 2.7 days | 6.5 days | ||
| Operative treatment | |||||||||||||
| Fitzgerald [14] | 2017 | USA | 23 | NR | 68 (63–89) | 21 (16–26) | NR | NR | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 18 (14–23) | 8 (5–11) | NR |
| Chen Zhu [13] | 2020 | USA | 758 | 530 (70) | 72 (68–78) | NR | 345 (46) | NR | 32 (4) | 23 (3) | 13 (9–18) | 7 (4–13) | 6 (2–13) |
| Pieracci [15] | 2021 | USA | 133 | 81 (61) | 84 (80–100) | 14 (4–57) | 76 (57) | 9 (1–30) | 10 (8) | 16 (12) | 11 | 4.5 | NR |
| Ali-Osman [17] | 2018 | USA | 64 | 41 (61) | 69 (63–74) | 17.5 (9–25) | NR | 7 (5.25–9) | 1 (2) | 5 (8) | 12 (9–16) | 6 (3–10) | 3 (1–15) |
| Kane [16] | 2018 | USA | 43 | NR | 71.3 ± 6.0 | 20.1 ± 8.5 | NR | NR | 1 (2) | 2 (5) | 12 (10–16) | 5 (0–8) | NR |
| Weighted subtotal | 1021 | 68% | 71 | 16.5 | 47% | 8.4 | 4% | 5% | 12.7 days | 6.5 days | 5.8 days | ||
NR not reported; ISS injury severity score; HLOS hospital length of stay; ILOS intensive care unit length of stay; DMV duration mechanical ventilation