OBJECTIVE: To assess the inter-observer agreement of three tibial plateau fracture classifications: Schatzker, AO Group, and Hohl. METHODS: Nine physicians of different levels of expertise (six Orthopaedic Residents - OR - and three Orthopaedic Attendings - OA) classified 50 tibial plateau fractures. RESULTS: There was a low to moderate agreement between OR and OA on the three classification systems. A straight correlation was found between the year of Residence and an increase on the level of agreement on the AO group and Hohl classifications. This was partially seen on the Schatzker classification. Kappa ranged from 0.344 to 0.577, 0.36 to 0.499, and 0.278 to 0.465 for the Hohl, AO group, and Schatzker systems, respectively. CONCLUSION: With a level of 0.1, there was a significant agreement on the three classifications among the physicians. When comparing ORs to OAs, the three studied classifications show low to moderate consistency, with the Hohl classification showing the highest level of agreement between OR.
Tibial fractures; Validation studies; Evaluation
