A Clinical Review of Geriatric Patients With Rib Fractures Seen in an Emergency Department

Background: Almost every study of rib fractures in the elderly show associated injuries resulting in admission to thoracic or cardiovascular surgery. In Korea, no studies have compared these elderly patients with younger patients. Methods: This study is based on patients who were diagnosed as having rib fracture at the Emergency Department of the Seoul Medical Center from March 2013 to April 2011. The medical records and radiological examinations of 192 cases were reviewed. Two groups were created-older than 65 years and younger than 64 years. Comparisons were made between the two groups including place of injury, time of injury, associated injuries, and the final result in the Emergency Department. Results: The final patient sample size was 192. The elderly group had 142 patients with the average age being 48.77± 9.70 years and 75.4% males. The young group had 50 patients with the average age at 75.90±7.21 years and 25% males. The most common place of injury was road (p=0.007) in the young group and home (p=0.002) in the elderly group. The most common mechanisms of injury were slipping (47.4%), traffic accidents (18.2%), falling (14.1%), and assault (9.4%). Falling was more prevalent in the young group than in the elderly group (p=0.011). Rib fractures occurred at night (p<0.001), on Saturdays, on Sundays, and in the winter in the young group and in the morning(p =0.002), on Mondays, on Fridays, and in the winter in the elderly group. Associated injuries, in descending order, were chest, limb, head, and spine. Conclusion: This study found that several selected factors of an injury-place, mechanism, time, and associated injuries, differ by age.