Do Patients With Dominant-side Distal Radius Fractures Have Greater Psychological Distress Than Those With Nondominant-side Fractures?

Background: Distal radius fractures have a psychological impact on patients, with the pain and disability caused by these injuries potentially leading to psychological distress. It is not known whether dominant-side and nondominant-side distal radius fractures cause more psychological distress in patients.

Questions/purposes: (1) Compared with patients who have distal radius fractures on the nondominant side, do patients with dominant-side fractures experience greater pain? (2) Do patients with dominant-side distal radius fractures have greater disability? (3) Do patients with dominant-side distal radius fractures have worse psychological adjustment? (4) What factors are associated with a worse quality of life mental component measure?

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted by the departments of orthopaedics-traumatology and psychiatry in a multidisciplinary manner at our university hospital, which is a public hospital. The study included 172 patients with distal radius fractures who were treated nonoperatively. We excluded 2% (3 of 172) of patients who underwent surgery because of loss of reduction, 1% (2 of 172) of patients with bilateral distal radius fractures, and 9% (16 of 172) of patients who did not consent to participate in the study. After the exclusion of 12% (21 of 172) of ineligible patients, the study continued with 88% (151 of 172) of patients. Forty-six percent (70 of 151) of patients had dominant distal radius fractures and 54% (81 of 151) of patients had nondominant distal radius fractures. The evaluation was carried out face-to-face at the end of the sixth week of treatment in the orthopaedic outpatient clinic. The VAS score was used to assess pain (this score ranges from 0 to 10, where 0 represents no pain and 10 represents the worst pain, with a minimum clinically important difference [MCID] of 2), the QuickDASH was used to assess disability (ranges from 0 to 100, representing best to worst, with an MCID of 15.9), the Brief Adjustment Scale-6 (BASE-6) was used to assess psychological adjustment (ranges from 6 to 42, lower scores indicate better outcomes), and the SF-12 was used to assess quality of life (ranges from 0 to 100, representing worst to best, with an MCID of 5).

Results: At cast removal, patients with dominant-side distal radius fractures had higher levels of pain (dominant VAS median [IQR] 4 [4], nondominant VAS median 2 [3], median difference 2; p = 0.005), but the difference was not clinically important. There were no differences in disability (dominant QuickDASH median 63.6 [21], nondominant Quick DASH median 59.1 [25], median difference 4.5; p = 0.20). Psychological adjustment was worse in patients with dominant-side fractures (dominant BASE-6 median 22.5 [24.3], nondominant BASE-6 median 15 [23.5], median difference 7.5; p = 0.004). After accounting for variables such as age, occupation, and gender, a better quality of life mental component (SF-12 MCS) was associated with a lower BASE-6 (β = -0.67; p < 0.001) and nondominant fracture (β = -0.16; p = 0.006).

Conclusion: Dominant-side distal radius fractures have a negative impact on the psychological adjustment and quality of life of patients. Patients with dominant distal radius fractures are more susceptible to the development of psychological disorders. Future studies should assess whether providing appropriate counsel at the time of fracture may alleviate the psychological disorders experienced by patients with dominant-side distal radius fractures.

Level of evidence: Level III, therapeutic study.