ABSTRACT
Objective To study the distribution and the characteristic of elbow fractures in children according to the age,sex,year,season and anatomical location.Methods The data of pediatric elbow fractures which were treated either in outpatient department or hospitalized in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University between January 2011 and December 2016 were collected.The distribution and characteristics of the fractures were analyzed by using SPSS 18.0 software and Excel 2010.Results A total of 613 patients with elbow fractures (628 different anatomical sites) were registered.The incidence seemed to increase by each year.Among them,414 cases were male and 199 cases were female (male/female ratio 2.08 ∶ 1.00).There were 3 distinct peaks which were respectively at the ages of 1,3 and 5.The fractures happened frequently from April to October.The most common type was supracondylar fracture of humerus(71.29％,437/613 cases),followed by lateral condylar fracture of humerus(14.68％,90/613 cases),olecranon fracture(3.26％,20/613 cases) and radial neck fracture (2.28％,14/613 cases).The most common cause of injury was falling on the same level (67.54％,414/613 cases),followed by dropping from heights (16.64％,102/613 cases),then sports injury (7.83％,48/613 cases),traffic accidents (5.55％,34/613 cases) as well as some intentional injuries (0.65％,4/613 cases).Conclusions The highest incidence of elbow fracture was found in children around 1 year,and 3-6 years.Boys are more affected than girls,probably attributed to their active nature.Fractures are more frequent in summer in which supracondylar fracture of humerus is the most common type.Most fractures occur after falling on the same level,indicating how easy it is to get injured in children.So careful examination is necessary to all the pediatric cases who came with a history of fall.Attention should be paid to intentional injuries especially so as to rule out if the cases belong to brutal abuse.