Epidemiology Of Elbow Fractures In Children In The African Context: About 465 Cases.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of our study was to analyse the epidemiology of elbow fractures in children. Patients and Methods We conducted a retrospective study over a period of 8 years where we collected 465 cases of children with elbow fractures and treated by the department of Paediatric Surgery and Surgical Emergency at CHU Aristide Le Dantec Hospital, Dakar. For each case the parameters studied were the frequency, age, sex, geographic origin, circumstances of occurrence, the mechanism, the suffered side, the anatomical lesion and associated lesions.Results The annual incidence was 58.12. Elbow fracture accounted for 30.79% of fractures of the child and came in second place after fractures of the femur (39.17%). The average age was 7 years with a peak incidence between 4 and 6 years. The majority observed are male with a sex ratio of 3.6: 1. Most of our patients (96.1%) came from the suburbs of the capital. The circumstances of occurrence were dominated by recreational accidents (59.5%) and the fall was the most frequently mechanism with 90.1% of cases. The left elbow sustained injury in 63.45% of cases. Supracondylar fractures accounted for 81.29% of cases. The associated lesions were found in 6.1% of cases.Conclusion Fractures of the elbow are common in our context. They occur more often in boys (male children) in the settings of a fall during games. The left side is the most affected. Supracondylar fractures are more frequent with rare associated injuries.