A Review of Epidemiological Distribution of Different Types of Fractures in Paediatric Age

Abstract

Introduction Treating paediatric patient fractures comprises a large part of any orthopaedic trauma service. The majority of fractures take place during sports and recreational activities. In this study, we examined the incidence of fractures and their distribution according to patient age. Methods We collected retrospective data from all the paediatric age group patients (under age 18) referred to our orthopaedic service from August 2015 to July 2016. We collected data for 1022 patients during one calendar year. Results We noted 1022 paediatric fracture presentations in one calendar year, with a 48.63% incidence in male patients and 51.36% in female patients. The age with the highest incidence was 16 years in boys and 11 years in girls. Upper limb fractures were more common than lower limb fractures in most of the subgroups. Conclusions These insights into paediatric fracture distribution provide an opportunity to evaluate the resources in hospitals allocated to emergency and orthopaedic departments regarding their capacity to treat fractures in paediatric patients.

Keywords: buckle fracture; paediatrics; supracondylar fracture.

Figure 1. The nine most common fractures and their ratios

Figure 2. Distribution of fractures in the male/female population and fracture distribution according to age