Methamphetamines and Acetabular Reoperation Rates: Poor Outcomes From the Front Lines

To compare acetabular fracture reoperation rates within 1 year of surgery in methamphetamine ("meth") abusers and abstainers.

Retrospective database analysis.

Level 1 academic trauma facility, 2008-2018.

Three hundred seventy-one patients who underwent unilateral traumatic acetabular open reduction internal fixation during the study period, 36 of whom abused methamphetamines through self-report or toxicology. One hundred four were excluded for indeterminate abuse histories.

Open reduction internal fixation.

Reoperation resulting from major surgical complications, including hematoma, seroma, deep wound infection, failure of fixation, or arthrosis with conversion to arthroplasty.

More than 10% of our cohort used meth, representing patients who were a mean 8 years younger and sustained a higher rate of high-energy mechanisms than sober peers. Meth abusers had a greater than 2-fold reoperation rate at 90 days and 1 year compared with abstainers (17% vs. 7% and 25% vs. 11%, respectively). The adjusted odds ratio of 1-year reoperation in meth users was 3.2 (confidence interval 1.2-8.5, P = 0.03). The adjusted 1-year survival of native hip after acetabular fractures in meth users approaches 55%.

Methamphetamine use is a nonmodifiable factor associated with a 3-fold increase in adjusted odds for 1-year reoperation after surgical fixation of acetabular fractures.

Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.