No Consensus on the Consensus: Failure to Adopt Fracture-Related Infection (FRI) Definition at the OTA Annual Meetings.

Abstract

To determine the rate at which abstracts accepted for the Orthopedic Trauma Association (OTA) Annual Meeting from 2019 to 2024 utilized the Fracture-related Infection (FRI) Consensus Group's definition for infection. Data Sources: The data sources for this study included the Orthopedic Trauma Association (OTA) Annual Meeting Programs from 2019-2024 and the "abstract search" portion of OTA Website. All podium and poster abstract presentations that utilized keywords for infection ("fracture-related infection," "infection," or "SSI") in the title. All abstracts were reviewed, and grouped into one of the four following categories based on the methodologic descriptors used to define infection characteristics: 1) Utilized Consensus Group Definition, 2) Utilized CDC Definition [deep, superficial, organ/space, or SSI terminology], 3) Utilized an Author Specific Definition, 4) Did Not Utilize Any Definition. Univariate statistics were conducted to determine yearly and overall percentages of abstracts that utilized the Consensus Group's definition as compared to the other 3 definition categories. Bivariate analysis was performed to determine if the use of Consensus Group's definition varied from 2019-2024. 52 podium abstracts and 59 poster abstracts were included. Among the podium abstracts, 4 (7.7%) utilized the Consensus Group's definition of FRI, 37 (71.2%) utilized language from the CDC definition, 4 (7.7%) used an author specific definition, and 7 (13.5%) abstracts did not utilize any definition of descriptors of infection. Poster abstracts demonstrated similar utilization of methodical infection descriptors, as 5 (8.5%) utilized the Consensus Group's definition of FRI. The number of abstracts that utilized the Consensus Group's Definition did not vary from 2019-2024 (p=0.952 for podiums, p=0.451 for posters). Adoption of the FRI Consensus Group's definition among accepted OTA 2019-2024 Annual Meeting abstracts was low. IV.