Mortality and functional outcomes of fragility fractures of the pelvis by fracture type with conservative treatment: a retrospective, multicenter TRON study

Purpose Fragility fractures of the pelvis (FFP) are becoming a commonly encountered disease in aging societies. We aimed to (1) clarify the overall survival rate of FFP, (2) compare survival rates by Rommens and Hofmann classification FFP type, (3) investigate the complications during hospitalization, and (4) investigate walking ability before and after injury depending on the type of fracture in patients with FFP treated conservatively. Methods This retrospective, multicenter study included 867 patients with FFP treated conservatively between 2014 and 2018 and excluded patients with insufficient follow-up for two years, lost data, and operative cases. This is a retrospective multicenter study. We established the database, which is named as TRON. We evaluated survival rate by fracture type using the log-rank test. We compared walking ability as defined by a new mobility score and the modified Majeed Pelvic Score among fracture types. Results We reviewed 552 cases (98 males and 454 females) with conservative treatment. The overall survival rates of patients with FFP treated conservatively were 0.90 at 1 year and 0.83 at 2 years. Although the survival rate was the lowest in FFP Type III, there was no significant difference in survival rates between fracture types ( P = 0.143). The rates of complications during hospitalization were high for both Type III and Type IV fractures. Walking ability post-injury was worse in the patients with Type III fracture. Conclusions The survival rate of patients treated by conservative treatment was relatively good. Type III in the Rommens and Hofmann classification was related to lower life expectancy and loss of walking ability.