Study highlights the psychological and social concerns of musculoskeletal trauma patients

By Admin | May 17, 2021

Musculoskeletal injuries comprise a large percentage of hospital admissions for adults and often lead to chronic pain and long-term disability. A new review article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons^® (JAAOS^®) recognizes the intimate connection between patients who sustain traumatic orthopedic injuries and their subsequent psychological effects. The results suggest opportunity to improve overall patient health by attending to psychological and social concerns, along with physical health.

"This review article looks at the majority of recent literature as it pertains to different psychological conditions and how they affect musculoskeletal trauma patients. We sought to demonstrate that of the vast number of people who will undergo orthopaedic trauma in their lifetime, an alarming percentage will develop some form of psychological condition that will ultimately impair daily function."

Matthew Ciminero, MD, Study Article Author, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

Dr. Ciminero was inspired by an upbringing from two parents with Ph.D.s in Psychology and his undergraduate degree in Psychology to investigate the limited referrals to mental health professionals from orthopedic surgeons treating patients of both elective and traumatic injuries. He teamed up with fellow orthopedic surgeons from Denver Health, as well as his colleagues at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., to discuss the role of psychological evaluations and the need for improvements in community awareness of post-traumatic injury effects.

The study discovered:

• In patients who had sustained a severe lower limb injury, nearly half were positive for a psychological condition three months later and 42% were positive at two years.
• Early in their treatment, only 12% of patients stated that they used any mental health services and by 24 months, this number only increased to 22%.

The study also found that by the age of 50 years, 53.2% of women and 20.7% of men will have sustained some form of fracture. Soon after sustaining a fracture, psychological factors can predict pain and disability many months after injury, even after controlling for injury severity. Seeing this, the research team also looked to the Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (METRC) from 2018, which identified four groups of clinically relevant...(More)

For more info please read, Study highlights the psychological and social concerns of musculoskeletal trauma patients, by News Medical Life Sciences