Clin Orthop Surg.  2013 Sep;5(3):161-166. 10.4055/cios.2013.5.3.161.

Incidence Patterns of Pediatric and Adolescent Orthopaedic Fractures According to Age Groups and Seasons in South Korea: A Population-Based Study

• Park MS
• Chung CY
• Choi IH
• Kim TW
• Sung KH
• Lee SY
• Lee SH
• Kwon DG
• Park JW
• Kim TG
• Choi Y
• Cho TJ
• Yoo WJ
• Lee KM

• KMID: 1705540
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4055/cios.2013.5.3.161

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Fractures which need urgent or emergency treatment are common in children and adolescents. This study investigated the incidence patterns of pediatric and adolescent orthopaedic fractures according to age groups and seasons in South Korea based on population data.
METHODS
Data on the number of pediatric and adolescent patients under the age of 18 years who utilized medical services due to fractures were retrieved from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment service in South Korea. The data included four upper extremity and two lower extremity fractures according to four age groups (0-4 years, 5-9 years, 10-14 years, and 15-18 years). Incidences of the fractures were calculated as the incidence per 10,000 per year, and patterns according to age groups and seasons were demonstrated.
RESULTS
The annual incidence of clavicle, distal humerus, both forearm bone, distal radius, femoral shaft and tibial shaft fractures were 27.5, 34.6, 7.7, 80.1, 2.5, and 9.6 per 10,000 per year in children and adolescents, respectively. Clavicle and distal radius fractures showed significant seasonal variation for all age groups but femoral shaft fracture showed no significant seasonal variation for any of the age groups.
CONCLUSIONS
The four upper extremity fractures tended to show greater variations than the two lower extremity fractures in the nationwide database in South Korea. The study results are believed to be helpful in the planning and assignment of medical resources for fracture management in children and adolescents.

Keyword

Incidence; Seasonal variation; Pediatric and adolescent; Fracture

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Age Factors
Child
Child, Preschool
Fractures, Bone/*epidemiology
Humans
Incidence
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Republic of Korea/epidemiology
Seasons

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Annual incidences of pediatric and adolescent orthopaedic fractures between 2005 and 2009. The incidence of distal radius fracture was the highest, followed by distal humerus, clavicle, tibial shaft, both forearm bone, and femoral shaft fractures. Both forearm bone and tibial shaft fractures showed a slightly decreasing trend and femoral shaft fractures showed a slightly increasing trend between 2005 and 2009.

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  Fig. 2 This figure depicts the annual incidence of each fracture according to age groups in 2009. Distal radius fractures showed the greatest variation according to age groups, while femoral shaft fractures showed the least variation.

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  Fig. 3 Seasonal variation of pediatric and adolescent fracture incidences in 2009. The four upper extremity fractures showed the highest incidence in summer, while the two lower extremity fractures showed the highest incidence in winter. Distal humerus fractures showed the highest seasonal variations and femoral shaft fractures showed the lowest seasonal variations.

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