Polyfracture and Cranial Injuries Drive the Cost and Inpatient Burden of Zygoma Fractures.

Importance: Facial trauma makes up a significant number of emergency room visits, with morbidity costs in excess of 1 billion dollars each year. Few studies have evaluated the economic outcomes of management and inpatient burden of facial trauma, most focusing solely on the mandible and isolated midface fractures.

Objective: The authors aim to evaluate characteristics associated with increased cost and length of hospitalization of zygoma fracture management.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Level 1-trauma academic medical center.

Participants: Patients with zygoma fractures who presented to our institution from 2008 to 2021.

Main outcomes and measures: Demographics, injury mechanisms, associated injuries, treatment information, and associated costs were collected. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the patient and fracture characteristics associated with increased cost and length of hospitalization.

Results: Our 14-year experience identified 689 patients with zygoma fractures who presented from 2008 to 2021. Seventy percent were male, and 40% occurred in Caucasian patients. The mean cost, adjusted for inflation, was $21,799.34, and the mean length of hospitalization was 5.5 days. Four or more fractures, associated cranial or intracranial injuries, and length of stay were associated with significantly higher cost, and 4 or more fractures, associated cranial or intracranial injuries, and female gender were associated with significantly longer length of hospitalization.

Conclusions and relevance: This study represents one of the largest comprehensive databases of zygoma fractures and one of the first to provide a descriptive cost and inpatient burden analysis. To improve outcomes and reduce hospital cost and inpatient burden, protocols should be implemented to address the factors that the authors identified as contributing to increased cost and length of hospitalization.