Abstract
We retrospectively analysed 106 consecutive traumatic humeral shaft fractures over a five-year period. The mechanism of injury, age, gender, fracture types, associated injury and the presence of injury to the radial nerve were reviewed. The incidence was about 10 per 100,000 per year; most were closed fractures in young males which had been sustained as a result of traffic accidents. The age–gender distribution was characterised by gradually increased incidence from the fifth decade in women, while it reached a peak at the third decade and decreased after the fifth decade in men. The results revealed different epidemiological features from previous studies. The epidemiology differs between ethnicity and country, and updating the epidemiological features of humeral shaft fractures may provide information for appropriate treatment programmes. This study documents the epidemiology of humeral shaft fracture in Taiwan, probably for the first time in this Asian community.
Résumé
Nous avons analysé de façon rétrospective 106 fractures traumatiques de la diaphyse humérale sur une période de 5 ans. Le mécanisme du traumatisme, l’âge, le sexe, le type de fractures, le type de traumatismes et la présence de lésion du nerf radial ont été analysés. L’incidence est, approximativement de 10 pour un million de personnes par an. La plupart sont des fractures à foyer fermé sur des sujets jeunes de sexe masculin secondaires à des accidents de la circulation. L’analyse de l’âge et du sexe permet de mettre en évidence une augmentation de l’incidence de cette fracture chez les femmes dans les 5 premières décades, avec un pic à 30 ans et une diminution après 50 ans chez l’homme. Les résultats de l’étude épidémiologique permettent un algorithme chirurgical adapté. Il s’agit probablement de la première étude asiatique, elle a été réalisée à Taiwan.
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Acknowledgement
We thank Dr. Tsai-Chung Li, Mr. Pao-Hsuan Lin and the China Medical University Biostatistics Center for their help with the statistical analyses carried out for this paper.
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Tsai, CH., Fong, YC., Chen, YH. et al. The epidemiology of traumatic humeral shaft fractures in Taiwan. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 33, 463–467 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-008-0537-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-008-0537-8