Outcome of management of distal radius fractures in postmenopausal women: experience from rural India

Background and Purpose: Distal radial fractures are common fractures of postmenopausal age group patients. They are often called fractures of osteoporosis. These fractures are considered to be one of the commonest minor injuries to cause major morbidity in the community. A lot of patient who need surgery, fail to afford offered treatment owing to their socioeconomic conditions. We tried to highlight that postmenopausal distal radius fractures attributed to osteoporosis, are not given much of consideration when lot of funds and researches are being diverted to osteoporosis and related diseases. Methods: 60 elderly female patients with distal radius fracture were studied for outcome. The primary outcome parameter was grip strength. Patients were followed for 6 months for subjective and objective clinical assessment. Patients were also assessed for their socioeconomic status. Clinical outcome were correlated with socioeconomic status. Results: At 6 months post treatment, grip strength was measured 85% of the uninjured side in the operative group and 56% in the conservatively treated group. 42.85% of patients in whom surgery was indicated refused the surgery because of financial constraints. Conclusion: Patients who had opted for operative intervention did better. Financial constraint was the common reason for not opting for surgical treatment by patients in whom surgery was indicated.Keywords: Distal Radius Fracture, Postmenopausal, Osteoporosis, Socioeconomic Conditio