Chest Trauma Scoring Systems for Predicting Respiratory Complications in Isolated Rib Fracture

We retrospectively compared chest trauma scoring systems in patients with rib fractures without major extrathoracic injury for predicting respiratory complications. We also evaluated the predictive power according to the presence or absence of pulmonary contusion.

Data from 177 patients with isolated rib fractures were included (December 2013 to April 2018). The primary outcome was respiratory complications (pneumonia, respiratory failure, or empyema). The Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), Thoracic Trauma Severity Score (TTSS), Chest Trauma Score (CTS), Rib Fracture Score (RFS), and RibScore were evaluated using univariate and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses to determine their predictive value for pulmonary complications. We divided patients into two groups according to the presence or absence of pulmonary contusion, and constructed ROC curves for both groups.

Twenty-eight patients (15.8%) had ≥1 respiratory complication, with significantly higher numbers of standard, segmental, and displaced rib fractures as well as significantly higher TTSS, CTS, RFS, and AIS scores. In all patients, the TTSS (0.723, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.651-0.788) showed the highest area under the ROC curve (AUROC), followed by the CTS, RFS, AIS, and RibScore. In patients with pulmonary contusion, TTSS also showed the highest AUROC (0.704, 95% CI 0.613-0.784). In patients without pulmonary contusion, RFS showed the highest AUROC (0.759, 95% CI 0.630-0.861).

TTSS was the most useful system for predicting respiratory complications in isolated rib fracture patients with pulmonary contusion. By contrast, RFS was the most useful in patients without pulmonary contusion.