@article{ref1,
title="A retrospective epidemiological study of paediatric femoral fractures",
journal="Swiss medical weekly",
year="2020",
author="Valaikaite, Raimonda and Tabard-Fougère, Anne and Steiger, Christina and Samara, Eleftheria and Dayer, Romain and Ceroni, Dimitri",
volume="150",
number="",
pages="w20360-w20360",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Femoral fracture is a significant major trauma in children and adolescents, sometimes resulting in serious complications. This study aimed to  determine the epidemiology of femoral fractures and to define associated injuries  and mortality incidence in a pediatric population below 16 years old. <br><br>METHODS: The  medical records of all patients with a femoral fracture treated in our hospital from  1997–2016 were reviewed retrospectively. Age, gender, mechanism of the trauma,  month and season of fracture occurrence, fracture type, associated injuries, and  mortality data were collected. Patients were divided into four age groups and  compared. <br><br>RESULTS: The study included 348 children with 353 femoral fractures. The  mean annual prevalence of femoral fracture during the study period was 22.7 per  100,000 children. Except for children less than 1 year old, most fractures occurred  in male patients (69%), with a male-to-female ratio of 2.2:1. Road accidents were  the most common mechanism at all ages. Femoral fractures were mainly due to  low-energy trauma in neonates and infants, to road accidents and low-energy trauma  in preschool children, to sports accidents in school-age children, and to road  traffic accidents in teenagers. February was the month with the most occurrences of  femoral fractures. Winter was the peak season for femoral fractures in children aged  <1 year and 6–11 years (37.8% and 46.4% of fractures respectively), whereas  autumn was the most common season (29.5%) for preschool children and spring (31.1%)  the most common in the teenagers group. Diaphyseal fractures were the most commonly  reported lesions in all four age groups, representing 72.3% of all fractures. Only  18 fractures were open (5.1%). Eighty-eight patients (25.3%) presented with  associated injuries at admission, 12 presented with Waddell’s triad of  injuries, and the mortality rate was calculated to be 1.1% (four cases). <br><br>CONCLUSION:  The circumstances of injury and the seasonality of femoral fractures differed  significantly depending on the children’s ages. Moreover, the morbidity of  femoral fractures in children was closely correlated with associated injuries. (Level of evidence: Level III).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1424-7860",
doi="10.4414/smw.2020.20360",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.4414/smw.2020.20360"
}