Anxiety and the Attainment of Clinically Significant Outcomes in Operatively Treated Distal Radius Fracture Patients: A Retrospective Study of 78 Patients

Seventy-eight patients were included (87.2% female, average age 62.4 ± 12.5 years). Fifty-nine patients (75.6%) had intraarticular fractures. Depression was more common in the anxiety cohort (68.4% vs 20.3%, <i>P</i> < .001). The MCID thresholds at 3 and 6 months were 57.7 and 61.8, respectively. Patients with anxiety had lower MCID achievement at 6 months (31.6% vs 59.3%, <i>P</i> = .035) and smaller PRWE improvements (<i>P</i> = .002). The PRWE scores at 6 weeks and 3 months were moderately correlated with 6-month scores (<i>r</i> = .51, <i>r</i> = .58, respectively), and 3-month changes were strongly correlated with 6-month changes (<i>r</i> = .73)Conclusions:Anxiety was associated with smaller improvements in PRWE scores and reduced MCID achievement, highlighting the importance of addressing mental health in postoperative care. Early PRWE scores were moderately predictive of 6-month scores, suggesting that patients with limited early improvement may benefit from targeted interventions to optimize long-term recovery.