Presence of Anemia and Its Severity is Associated with Worse Outcomes Following Open Reduction Internal Fixation of Ankle Fractures

Category: Trauma; Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Preoperative anemia has been associated with significant postoperative morbidity following various types of orthopaedic procedures. However, to our knowledge, there is no study assessing postoperative outcomes following open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) of ankle fractures with varying severity of anemia. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of preoperative anemia severity on 30-day postoperative outcomes following ankle fracture ORIF. Methods: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program registry was queried from 2005 to 2019 for patients undergoing ankle fracture ORIF. Patients were stratified into 3 cohorts: non-anemic (hematocrit > 36% for women, >39% for men), mildly anemic (hematocrit 33%-36% for women, 33%-39% for men), and moderately to severely anemic (hematocrit