Study design
fracture
A multicenter, controlled, parallel-arm, randomized trial was carried out in Jiangsu Province from Jan 2018 to December 2021. A total of 446 patients were screened over this period, and 403 of these were initially enrolled in the study to form the ITT (intention-to-treat) population. To determine if the intervention is superior, the present research was conducted. The Clinical Research Ethics Committees of Wuxi Taihu Hospital, Huishan Peoples Hospital, and Wuxi Peoples Hospital endorsed the methodology used in the present research (2018-YXLL-072) and followed the Declaration of Helsinki. All patients were asked to obtain written informed consent for the study. In addition, patients were allocated at random (1:1) to receive early rib fracture fixation (≤ 48 h) or delayed rib fracture fixation (> 48 h, Fig. Study design