Epidemiological analysis of adult carpal fractures at The Third Affiliated Hospital to Hebei Medical University from 2003 through 2012 / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the epidemiological features and trends of adult carpal fractures at The Third Affiliated Hospital to Hebei Medical University from 2003 through 2012.Methods The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed of all the adult patients with carpal fracture who had been treated between January 2003 and December 2012 at our institute.The patients' age,gender and fracture type were documented.The data between 2003 and 2007 were classified as group A while the data between 2008 and 2012 as group B.The epidemiological characteristics during the 10 years concerning age,gender and fracture type were compared between the 2 groups.Results A total of 1,181 carpal fractures were collected,accounting for 5.99％ (1,181/19,712) of the hand fractures and 1.10％ (1,181/107,648) of the total fractures in the same period.They involved 967 males and 214 females,with a male/female ratio of 4.52∶ 1.The high-risk age group was from 21 to 30 years (33.28％);the high-risk type was scaphoid fracture (72.99％).In group A of 453 cases,the male/female ratio was 6.68∶1,the median age 29 years and the high-risk type scaphoid fracture (83.89％).In group B of 728 cases,the male/female ratio was 3.70∶ 1,the median age 34 years and the high-risk type also scaphoid fracture (66.21％).Group B had a significantly lower male/female ratio,a significantly lower proportion of scaphoid fractures and a significantly older median age than group A (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions In the 10 years at our institute,adult carpal fractures accounted for 5.99％ of the hand fractures and 1.10％ of the total fractures in the same period.They mostly occurred in males and during the age from 21 to 30 years.Of all the carpal bones,the scaphoid was the most often fractured.The latter 5 years witnessed significantly increased median age,proportion of females and proportion of scaphoid fractures compared with the former 5 years.