Prospective study of long-term quality-of-life after rib fractures

Long-term quality-of-life after rib fractures remains understudied. We aimed to evaluate quality-of-life of patients who had rib fractures 1 year after discharge. We hypothesized that patients with rib fractures, even as an isolated injury, have suboptimal long-term quality-of-life.

We prospectively enrolled adults admitted to our level 1 trauma center with acute rib fractures. Primary outcome was quality-of-life at 1 year after discharge, characterized using the revised trauma-specific quality-of-life questionnaire and a supplemental survey. Secondary analysis evaluated association between baseline frailty (measured using the Rib Fracture Frailty Index) and quality-of-life. Patients with low versus moderate frailty risk underwent full matching and linear mixed model analysis.

We enrolled 139 patients, among whom 72 (52%) completed 1-year surveys. Patients reported excellent emotional well-being (median [interquartile range]: 4.8 [3.7-5.0]) and functional engagement (median [interquartile range]: 5.0 [4.3-5.0]) but poor physical well-being and recovery (median [interquartile range]: 3.2 [2.8-3.6]). Nearly 40% of patients reported some degree of rib pain, and 29% had not returned to preinjury working capacity. Patients with and without isolated rib fractures reported similar median revised trauma-specific quality-of-life scores. We did not find statistically significant association between low versus moderate frailty and any quality-of-life domain, but no patients in our cohort had high frailty risk and our study was underpowered to detect this association.

Rib fractures are associated with suboptimal quality-of-life 1 year after discharge, even after isolated injury. Our sample size was limited, but our findings highlight persistent long-term consequences of rib fractures despite advances in inpatient management. Patients should be counseled on the potential for prolonged convalescence.