Effects of prosthetic limb prescription on 3-year mortality among lower extremity veteran amputees

摘要

Our objective was to determine the relationship between receipt of a prescription for a prosthetic limb and three-year mortality post-surgery among veterans with lower extremity amputation. We conducted a retrospective observational study that included 4,578 veterans hospitalized for lower extremity amputation and discharged in Fiscal Years 2003 and 2004. The outcome was time to all-cause mortality from the amputation surgical date up to the 3-year anniversary of the surgical date. There were 1,300 (28.4%) veterans with lower extremity amputations who received a prescription for a prosthetic limb within a year after the surgical amputation. About 46% (n=2086) died within three-years of the surgical anniversary. Among those who received a prescription for a prosthetic limb, only 25.2% died within 3 years of the surgical anniversary. After adjustment, veterans who received a prescription for a prosthetic limb were less likely to die after the surgery than veterans without a prescription with a hazard ratio of 0.68 (95% CI, 0.60-0.77). Findings demonstrated that veterans with lower extremity amputations who received a prescription for a prosthetic limb within a year after the surgical amputation were less likely to die within three years of the surgical amputation after controlling for patient-, treatment-, and facility-level characteristics.