Protocol for a prospective cohort study of open tibia fractures in Malawi with a nested implementation of open fracture guidelines

Schade, Alexander, Nyamulani, Nohakhelha, Banza, Leonard Ngoe, Metcalfe, Andrew John, Leather, Andrew, Madan, Jason J., Lalloo, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7680-2200, Harrison, Williams James and MacPherson, Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0329-9613 (2021) 'Protocol for a prospective cohort study of open tibia fractures in Malawi with a nested implementation of open fracture guidelines'. Wellcome Open Research, Vol 6, p. 228.

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Abstract

Background: Road traffic injury (RTI) is the largest cause of death amongst 15–39-year-old people worldwide, and the burden of injuries such as open tibia fractures are rapidly increasing in Malawi. This study aims to investigate disability and economic outcomes of people with open tibia fractures in Malawi and improve these with locally delivered implementation of open fracture guidelines.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study describing function, quality of life and economic burden of open tibia fractures in Malawi. In total, 160 participants will be recruited across six centres and will be followed-up with face-to-face interviews at six weeks, three months, six months and one year following injury. The primary outcome will be function at one year measured by the short musculoskeletal functional assessment (SMFA) score. Secondary outcomes will include quality of life measured by EuroQol EQ-5D-3L, catastrophic loss of income and implementation outcomes (acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, costs, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, and sustainability) at one year. A nested pilot pre-post implementation study of an interventional bundle for all open fractures will be developed based on other implementation studies from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Regression analysis will be used to model and investigate associations between SMFA score and fracture severity, infection and the pre- and post-training course period.

Outcome: This prospective cohort study will report patient reported outcomes from open tibia fractures in low-resource settings. Subsequent detailed evaluation of both the clinical and implementation components of the study will promote sustainability of improved open fractures management in the study sites and further scale-up of open fracture management guidelines.

Ethics: Ethics approval has been obtained from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and College of Medicine Research and Ethics committee.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries WE Musculoskeletal System > WE 100 General works WE Musculoskeletal System > WE 20 Research (General)
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > Clinical Sciences Department Clinical Sciences & International Health > Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme (MLW)
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17145.1
Depositing User:	Julie Franco
Date Deposited:	28 Sep 2021 15:23
Last Modified:	28 Sep 2021 15:23
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/18984

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