Study Design

We performed a retrospective, observational study using data from INAIL Prosthesis Centre in Budrio, Italy. The INAIL Prosthesis Centre encompasses rehabilitation departments and orthopedic laboratories assisting every year more than 1500 individuals with amputations of upper or lower limbs due to on-the-job injuries and other etiologies.

We defined as eligible all hospitalizations of individuals with unilateral trans-femoral amputation or knee-disarticulation, aged over 18 years, having been admitted as an inpatient at INAIL Prosthesis Centre between 2011 and 2017. We assessed prosthetic knee safety by considering falls experienced during the hospitalization while wearing the prosthesis as the outcome.

We enrolled only hospitalizations with signed informed consent from the patient for data treatment for research purposes. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee “Area Vasta Emilia Centro” (ref. MOTU 18088, CE AVEC n 380/2018/OSS/AUSLBO) and complies with the Declaration of Helsinki.