Background: Femoral Shaft Fracture (FSF) is a severe injury with incidance 10-21 per 100,000 persons/year¹. The union rate is reported between 95–99 %². Unfortunately, even after union a number of patients still report impairments and limitations in functional outcomes and quality of life (QoL)³. The literature lacks studies evaluating long-term functional outcome and performance and QoL.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the functional outcomes and quality of life of the young adults who underwent internal fixation (IF) surgery of femoral shaft fracture (FSF) to the healthy individuals.

Methods: Twenty patients who underwent IF surgery of FSF by the same surgeon and 20 healthy individuals were included in this retrospective study. Individuals with secondary osteoporosis risk were not included. Function of both two groups was assessed using Harris Hip Score. To evaluate performance Stair Climb Test (SCT) is applied. Quality of life was assessed by the EQ-5D-3L HrQoL. The Mann Whitney U-Test was used to compare the results of the function, performance and quality of life of the two independent groups. Statistically, p<0.05 was accepted as a significant difference.

Results: The mean time after surgery was 2.2±0.8 years. Comparing to the healthy group, the EQ-5D-3L VAS and TTO scores of the patient group were significantly lower (p<0.001). When the function results were compared between the groups, the mean total HHS of the patient group were found significantly lower (p<0.001). The results of mean stair climbing time in healthy group were significantly lower (p<0.001). Descriptive outcomes and results’ details is shown in Table 1.

Conclusion: The results of the study showed that there were deficiencies in long-term function, performance and quality of life in young adults after IF surgery compared to healthy individuals. Therefore, we suggest that the assessment of the in long-term functional outcomes and quality of life of the patients with FSF after IF surgery is necessary to plan appropriate rehabilitation programs by determining the patient‘s needs.

References [1] Enninghorst N, McDougall D, Evans JA. Population-based epidemiology of femur shaft fractures. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2013;74:1516–20.

[2] Deepak MK, Jain K, Rajamanya KA, et al. Functional outcome of diaphyseal fractures of femur managed by closed intramedul- lary interlocking nailing in adults. Ann Afr Med. 2012;11:52–7.

[3] El Moumni M, Voogd EH, ten Duis HJ, Wendt KW. Long-term functional outcome following intramedullary nailing of femoral shaft fractures. Injury. 2012;43:1154–8.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared