Orthopaedic trauma clinical research: is 2-year follow-up necessary? Results from a longitudinal study of severe lower extremity trauma.

Although long-term follow-up provides a more complete picture of final outcomes and rate of recovery, follow-up beyond 1 year is difficult and expensive. In our study, it accounted for 20% of the total cost. The analysis of our data suggests that 1-year data were sufficient to address our major study hypotheses.