Investigation of the Effect of Age and Injury Severity on Short-term Intra-hospital Outcomes After Surgical Stabilized Rib Fractures

April 28, 2026 updated by: University Hospital Muenster
The study aims to investigate the effect of surgical stabilisation of rib fractures (SSRF) on clinical outcomes measured during the hospital stay (mortality, days on a mechanical ventilator, intensive care unit and hospital length of stay, rate of complications). Furthermore, the effect of the patients age and overall injury severity on the outcomes after SSRF will be investigated. We hypothesise that the combination of high age and high injury severity will lead to worse outcomes after SSRF.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

1064

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Germany
    • North Rhine-Westphalia
      • Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 48149
        • Department for trauma, hand and reconstructive surgery, University hospital Muenster

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

The Patients will be sampled from all patients treated in the department for trauma, hand and reconstructive surgery of the university hospital Muenster

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients of the University Hospital Muenster
  • Coded serial rib fractures (ICD S22.4 and S22.5)
  • Treatment for the rib fractures between 2019 and 2023

Exclusion Criteria:

  • pathological rib fractures (due to suspected malignancy)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Operative
Patients receiving surgical stabilisation of rib fractures (SSRF) by any operative technique
Procedure: Surgical stabilisation of rib fractures (SSRF)
Surgical stabilisation of rib fractures using any fixation technique (including but not limited to plate fixation, intramedullary fixation, wire fixation) via any operative approach (including but not limited to open external approach, minimally invasive approach, thoracoscopic approach, thoracotomy approach).
Other: Non-operative management of rib fractures
Any supportive or specific treatment of rib fractures excluding surgical stabilisation of rib fractures. This includes, but is not limited to analgesia, physiotherapy, non-invasive ventilation, mechanical ventilation, oxygen-supplementation
Non-operative
Patients not receiving surgical stabilisation of rib fractures (SSRF)
Other: Non-operative management of rib fractures
Any supportive or specific treatment of rib fractures excluding surgical stabilisation of rib fractures. This includes, but is not limited to analgesia, physiotherapy, non-invasive ventilation, mechanical ventilation, oxygen-supplementation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
In hospital-mortality
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Mortality rate from injury to initial hospital discharge, binary
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Intensive care unit length of stay
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
The duration in days a patient spent in the intensive care unit from the time of hospital admission to the time of initial hospital discharge.
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Intubation rate
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Proportion of patients intubated at any time
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Multi-organ failure
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Rate of Multi-organ failure
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Single organ failure
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Rate of single organ failure
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Sepsis
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Rate of Sepsis
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Lung-failure
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Rate of Lung-failure
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Clinical outcome
Time Frame: At the time point of initial hospital discharge or at death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Clinical outcome according to the Glasgow outcome scale (GOS)
At the time point of initial hospital discharge or at death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Duration of hospital stay
Time Frame: From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.
Duration of hospital stay in days from injury to initial discharge
From injury up to initial hospital discharge or death, whichever came first, assessed up to 2 month.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University Hospital Muenster

Investigators

  • Study Director: Steffen Rosslenbroich, PD Dr. med., Department for trauma, hand and reconstructive surgery, University hospital Muenster

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 31, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 12, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

June 18, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 28, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UKM_UCH_2024_002

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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