Long-term patient-reported knee-related outcomes and quality of life of patients with tibial plateau fractures: A mixed-methods study

Nynke van der Gaast ,Britt H. J. Edwards ,Dagmar S. Alderlieste ,Ruurd L. Jaarsma,Job N.
Doornberg,Michael J. R. Edwards,Erik Hermans

Abstract

This study aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of the long-term functional outcomes in patients who sustained a tibial plateau fracture by combining patient-reported outcomes and a qualitative analysis of their healthcare experiences and compare the long-term outcomes of tibial plateau fracture patients with a matched healthy population.

Introduction

Tibial plateau fractures are complex, intra-articular fractures. They can be caused by either high- or low-energy trauma, comprising between 1–2% of all adult fractures [1]. While high-energy trauma can lead to increasingly complex fracture patterns, in elderly individuals, low-energy injuries can also result in complex fracture patterns due to osteoporosis [2, 3 ]. The primary treatment goal is to anatomically restore the joint surface to limit the risk of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA).

Methods

This study was approved by the hospitals’ local ethics committee (Southern Adelaide Local Health Network LNR/22/SAC/174). This study adheres to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (64th, October 2013).

Results

We identified 190 patients who were treated for a tibial plateau fracture between January 2012 and January 2018. 25 patients were excluded as these patients were deceased (n = 19) or were younger than 18 years at time of injury (n = 6). In total, 165 eligible patients were invited to participate in this study. In total, 46 patients participated, which resulted in a response rate of 28% (Fig 1).

Citation: Gaast Nvd, Edwards BHJ, Alderlieste DS, Jaarsma RL, Doornberg JN, Edwards MJR, et al. (2026) Long-term patient-reported knee-related outcomes and quality of life of patients with tibial plateau fractures: A mixed-methods study. PLoS One 21(8): e0356057. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0356057

Editor: Hans-Peter Simmen, University Hospital Zurich, SWITZERLAND

Received: April 6, 2026; Accepted: July 29, 2026; Published: August 28, 2026

Copyright: © 2026 Gaast et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.