In this study, preoperative pain, time to surgery, and procedure type were modifiable factors associated with chronic pain 1 year after DRF treated with surgery.

Adequate pain control in patients with acute DRFs even before definitive surgical management and earlier fixation for patients requiring surgery may decrease the risk of developing chronic pain.

Internal fixation may decrease the risk of chronic pain after DRF surgery, compared with percutaneous pinning or external fixation.

A total of 146 patients with DRF who were treated operatively and had 12-month MHQ scores met inclusion criteria.

The mean (SD) patient age was 68.9 (7.2) years, 128 (87.6%) were women, and 93 (63.7%) were retired. Chronic pain was present in 87 patients (59.6%) and absent in 59 patients (40.4%) at 1-year follow-up.

When comparing the patients with 12-month pain scores with those without, patients with missing pain scores had significantly lower ulnar positive variance.

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