OTA/AO Classification Is Highly Predictive of Acute Compartment Syndrome After Tibia Fracture: A Cohort of 2885 Fractures

Objective: To determine the correlation between the OTA/AO classification of tibia fractures and the development of acute compartment syndrome (ACS). Design: Retrospective review of prospectively collected database. Setting: Single Level 1 academic trauma center. Patients: All patients with a tibia fracture from 2006 to 2016 were reviewed for this study. Three thousand six hundred six fractures were initially identified. Skeletally mature patients with plate or intramedullary fixation managed from initial injury through definitive fixation at our institution were included, leaving 2885 fractures in 2778 patients. Methods: After database and chart review, univariate analyses were conducted using independent t tests for continuous data and chi(2) tests of independence for categorical data. A simultaneous multivariate binary logistic regression was developed to identify variables significantly associated with ACS. Results: ACS occurred in 136 limbs (4.7%). The average age was 36.2 years versus 43.3 years in those without (P< 0.001). Men were 1.7 times more likely to progress to ACS than women (P = 0.012). Patients who underwent external fixation were 1.9 times more likely to develop ACS (P = 0.003). OTA/AO 43 injuries were at least 4.0 times less likely to foster ACS versus OTA/AO 41 or 42 injuries (P <0.007). OTA/AO 41-C injuries were 5.5 times more likely to advance to ACS compared with OTA/AO 41-A (P = 0.03). There was a significantly higher rate of ACS in OTA/AO 42-B (P = 0.005) and OTA/AO 42-C (P = 0.002) fractures when compared with OTA/AO 42-A fractures. In the distal segment, fracture type did not predict the risk of ACS (P >0.15). Group 1 fractures had a lower rate of ACS compared with group 2 (P = 0.03) and group 3 (P = 0.003) fractures in the middle segment only. Bilateral tibia fractures had a 2.7 times lower rate of ACS (P = 0.04). Open injury, multiple segment injury, fixation type, and concurrent pelvic or femoral fractures did not predict ACS. Conclusions: In this large cohort of tibia fractures, we found that the age, sex, and OTA/AO classification were highly predictive for the development of ACS.