Epidemiological investigation of pediatric calcaneal fractures in the Third Affiliated Hospital to Hebei Medical University from 2003 through 2012

Abstract

Objective To investigate the epidemiological features and analyze the trends of pediatric calcaneal fractures from 2003 through 2012 in our hospital. Methods The data of human fractures and pediatric calcaneal fractures treated between 2003 January to 2012 December at our hospital were collected through the PACS system and case reports checking system. The data of pediatric calcaneal fractures between 2003 and 2007 were classified as group A while the data between 2008 and 2012 as group B. Comparisons were made between the 2 groups in terms of gender, age, fracture type by Essex-Lopresti classification, and injury causes. The epidemiological characteristics and trends of the pediatric calcaneal fracture were analyzed. Results A total of 164 pediatric calcaneal fractures were included, accounting for 15.26% of the contemporary pediatric foot fractures(164/1,075), and 0.87% of the contemporary total pediatric fractures(164/18,831). They were 116 males and 48 females, with a male/female ratio of 2.42∶1. The peak age was from 11 to 15 years (45.73% ). The most frequent type was Essex-Lopresti type Ⅱ (70.12% ). The fall injury accounted for 57.93% . 26.83% of the pediatric calcaneal fractures were complicated with other fractures. There were 85 cases in group A and 79 cases in group B, respectively accounting for 15.43% (85/551) and 15.08% (79/524) of the contemporary pediatric foot fractures, and 0.86% (85/9,844) and 0.88% (79/8,987) of all the contemporary pediatric fractures. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups(P>0.05). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups either in the fracture constituent ratio, Essex-Lopresti classification, the constituent ratio of single calcaneal fracture, or the constituent ratio of fall injury (P>0.05). Conclusions In the decade from 2003 through 2012 in our hospital, pediatric calcaneal fractures accounted for 15.26% of the pediatric foot fractures and 0.87% of all the pediatric fractures. Boy patients were more than girl ones. Pediatric calcaneal fractures predominated in children between 11 and 15 years old. The Essex-Lopresti type Ⅱ was the most common. The decade witnessed stable epidemiological trends in distributions of gender, age and fracture Essex-Lopresti type in pediatric calcaneal fractures. Key words: Calcaneal fractures; Epidemiology; Pediatric; Age distribution