Epidemiology of Orthopaedic Trauma Admissions Over One Year in a District General Hospital in England

Epidemiology of orthopedic injuries among inpatients admitted at a tertiary teaching and referral hospital in Kenya: a retrospective cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Orthopedic injuries are serious and continue to be a concern for healthcare systems worldwide. Approximately 90% of the estimated traumatic injuries occur in low- and middle-income countries. In Kenya, there is a dearth of information on orthopedic injury patterns that could be used to prioritize injury prevention measures and to help hospital management teams allocate resources appropriately. The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology of orthopedic injuries admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital.

METHODS

This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. Overall, 720 charts were reviewed. Data were analyzed using frequency distribution, pearson chi-square test and logistic regression.

RESULTS

Overall, 85% were aged 15-64 years. Approximately 80% were male, married or single. Patients with primary or secondary education composed 72%. Road traffic accidents (59.4%) and falls (24.7%) were the most common mechanisms of injury. A total of 99.9% of the inpatients were Kenyans. Open injuries were 40.1%. Lower limb (67.4%) and upper limb (26.9%) injuries were the most common. Inpatients aged 15-24 years were 74% less likely to have upper limb injuries than those aged 0-14 years (p = 0.023). However, those aged 15-24 years were 19.250 times more likely to have spine injuries than those aged 0-14 years (p = 0.008). Males were 68.6% and 51.2% less likely to have pelvic injury and comorbidities, respectively, than females (p < 0.001). Patients with secondary and tertiary education were 2.016 (p = 0.003) and 2.3 (p < 0.001) times more likely to have upper limb injuries, respectively, than those with no or preschool education. Similarly, those with tertiary education were 2.079 times more likely to have comorbidities than those with no or preschool education (p = 0.017).

CONCLUSION

Most of the inpatients with orthopedic injuries were young, male involved in Road traffic accidents and therefore Kenya National Transport and Safety Authority needs to enforce road safety measures to reduce road carnage. Those with higher education and children were more likely to have upper limb injuries. Females were more likely to have pelvic injuries and co-morbidities. Lower and upper limb injuries were the most common injuries and this should guide resource allocation in management of orthopedic injuries.

Effect of enforcement of the national referral guidelines on patterns of orthopedic admissions to Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya: Pre-post intervention study

BACKGROUND

Inappropriate utilization of higher-level health facilities and ineffective management of referral processes in resource-limited settings are becoming increasingly a concern in health care management in developing countries. This is characterized by self-referral and frequent bypassing of the nearest health facilities coupled with low formal referral mechanisms. This scenario lends itself to a situation where uncomplicated medical conditions are unnecessarily managed in a high-cost health facility. On July 1, 2021, Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) enforced the Kenya Health Sector Referral Implementation Guidelines, 2014, which required patients to receive approval from the KNH referral office and a formal referral letter to be admitted at KNH to reduce the number of walk-ins and allow KNH to function as a referral facility as envisioned by the Kenya 2010 Constitution and KNH legal statue of 1987.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the effect of enforcing the national referral guidelines on patterns of orthopaedic admissions to the KNH. This was a pre-post intervention study. Data abstraction was done for 459 and 446 charts before and after the enforcement of the national referral guidelines, respectively.

RESULTS

Enforcement of the national referral guidelines reduced the proportion of walk-in admissions from 54.9% to 45.1%, while the proportion of facility referrals increased from 46.6% to 53.4% (p = 0.013). The percentage of non-trauma orthopaedic admissions doubled from 12.0% to 22.4% (p<0.001). There was also an increase in admissions through the Outpatient Clinic and Corporate Outpatient Clinic. The proportion of emergency admissions declined, while that of elective admissions increased. The increase in elective cases was mainly driven by the increase in female admissions with active insurance cover, tertiary education, non-trauma-related conditions and older age groups. However, the use of official formal written referral letters did not change despite the enforcement of the national referral guidelines.

CONCLUSION

The enforcement of the national referral guidelines reduced the proportion of walk-ins' admissions to KNH. While the enforcement of the national referral guidelines had no effect on the use of official formal written referral letters, it did limit access and utilization of inpatient orthopedic services for young male patients with no active insurance cover and in need of emergency orthopedic care.

Orthopaedic Fractures among Patients Attending a Tertiary Care Centre

Introduction

Orthopedic fractures caused by chronic metabolic bone disease, overuse, or road traffic accidents are among the most significant burdens on society. Furthermore, a growing number of people undergoing arthroplasty and an increase in life expectancy seem to contribute to an increase in orthopaedic fractures. However, research on orthopaedic fracture prevalence or types has been scarce in low- and middle-income countries, including Nepal. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of orthopaedic fractures among patients attending a tertiary care centre.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study among patients attending a tertiary care centre was conducted between 19 May and 18 November 2023 during which date from 1 January to 30 December 2021 were collected from the hospital records. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee. A convenience sampling method was used. Point estimate was calculated at a 95% Confidence Interval.

Results

Among 7609 people, 2518 (33.09%) (12.97-10.55, 95% Confidence Interval) had orthopaedic fractures. A total of 1925 (76.45%) were males. There were 339 (95.49%) fractures associated with two-wheelers and 307 (86.48%) with four-wheelers. There were 1387 (55.08%) soft tissue injuries, 198 (7.86%) skull injuries, and 116 (4.61%) facial injuries. Additionally, there were 73 (2.90%) fractures of the femur, 71 (2.82%) fractures of the phalanx, and 70 (2.78%) fractures of the clavicle.

Conclusions

The prevalence of orthopaedic fractures was found to be higher than in other studies done in similar settings.

Keywords

bone fracture; orthopedics; prevalence; tertiary care centre.

Artificial Intelligence for Detecting Acute Fractures in Patients Admitted to an Emergency Department: Real-Life Performance of Three Commercial Algorithms

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

Interpreting radiographs in emergency settings is stressful and a burden for radiologists. The main objective was to assess the performance of three commercially available artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for detecting acute peripheral fractures on radiographs in daily emergency practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Radiographs were collected from consecutive patients admitted for skeletal trauma at our emergency department over a period of 2 months. Three AI algorithms-SmartUrgence, Rayvolve, and BoneView-were used to analyze 13 body regions. Four musculoskeletal radiologists determined the ground truth from radiographs. The diagnostic performance of the three AI algorithms was calculated at the level of the radiography set. Accuracies, sensitivities, and specificities for each algorithm and two-by-two comparisons between algorithms were obtained. Analyses were performed for the whole population and for subgroups of interest (sex, age, body region).

RESULTS

A total of 1210 patients were included (mean age 41.3 ± 18.5 years; 742 [61.3%] men), corresponding to 1500 radiography sets. The fracture prevalence among the radiography sets was 23.7% (356/1500). Accuracy was 90.1%, 71.0%, and 88.8% for SmartUrgence, Rayvolve, and BoneView, respectively; sensitivity 90.2%, 92.6%, and 91.3%, with specificity 92.5%, 70.4%, and 90.5%. Accuracy and specificity were significantly higher for SmartUrgence and BoneView than Rayvolve for the whole population (P < .0001) and for subgroups. The three algorithms did not differ in sensitivity (P = .27). For SmartUrgence, subgroups did not significantly differ in accuracy, specificity, or sensitivity. For Rayvolve, accuracy and specificity were significantly higher with age 27-36 than ≥53 years (P = .0029 and P = .0019). Specificity was higher for the subgroup knee than foot (P = .0149). For BoneView, accuracy was significantly higher for the subgroups knee than foot (P = .0006) and knee than wrist/hand (P = .0228). Specificity was significantly higher for the subgroups knee than foot (P = .0003) and ankle than foot (P = .0195).

CONCLUSION

The performance of AI detection of acute peripheral fractures in daily radiological practice in an emergency department was good to high and was related to the AI algorithm, patient age, and body region examined.

Patterns of orthopedic and trauma admissions to a tertiary teaching and referral health facility in Kenya: Chart review

Tertiary hospitals in resource-limited countries should treat referred patients but in reality, are the first level of care for the vast majority of patients. As a result, the tertiary facility effectively functions as a primary health care facility. The urban phenomenon of widespread self-referral is associated with low rates of formal referral from peripheral health facilities. The study objective was to determine the patterns of orthopaedic and trauma admissions to Kenyatta National Hospital. This was descriptive study design. 905 patient charts were reviewed in 2021. The mean age was 33.8 years (SD 16.5) with range of 1-93 years. Majority 66.3% were between 25-64 years with those above 65 years being 40 (4.4%). Children 0-14 years comprised 10.9% of the admissions. Of the 905 admissions, 80.7% were accident and trauma-related admissions while 17.1% were non-trauma related admissions. About 50.1% were facility referrals while 49.9% were walk-ins. Majority of admissions were through Accident and Emergency Department 78.1%, Corporate Outpatient Care 14.9% and orthopedic Clinic 7.0%. About 78.7% were emergency admissions while 20.8% were elective admissions. Approximately 48.5% were due to Road Traffic Accidents and 20.9% due to falls. Close to 44.8% were casual workers and 20.2% unemployed. About 34.0% attained primary education and 35.0% secondary education. About 33.2% of female admissions were due to non-trauma conditions as compared to male admissions (12.8%) (p<0.001). Admissions for those aged 25-64 years were 3.5 more likely to have emergency admission as compared to those aged 0-14 years. Male were 65.1% less likely to have elective admissions compared to female (p<0.001). Whereas lower limb injuries and non-trauma related conditions were the most commonly admitted conditions, Lower limb injury and spine cases were mostly facility referred while non-trauma conditions were walk-in patients. Vast majority (89.2%) of admissions were from Nairobi Metropolitan region.

The epidemiology of adult fractures according to the AO/OTA fracture classification

BACKGROUND

The epidemiology of adult fractures has been changing timely, in a multifactorial fashion. The aim of this study was to put forward a recent 5-year epidemiological analysis of adult fractures, according to the current AO/OTA fracture classification, in the current decade of action for road safety.

METHODS

5324 adult patients who were diagnosed with at least one fracture related with orthopedics and traumatology in a level-one trauma center were included in this retrospective, epidemiological descriptive study. The patients were grouped according to their ages as; 18-35, 36-55, 56-69, and ≥70. The fractures were examined according to the AO/OTA classification.

RESULTS

5865 fractures were present in 5324 patients. The mean age of the patients was 48.6±21.5. The number of patients according to the age groups was as follows; 1947 (36.6%), 1636 (30.7%), 881 (16.5%), and 860 (16.2%), respectively. The most frequent three fractures according to the AO/OTA fracture classification were; 7 (hand 19.6%), 23 (distal forearm, 12.1%), and 8 (foot, 11.8%). About 54.4% and 45.4% of the patients were treated non-surgically and surgically, respectively. About 0.2% of the patients preferred an alternative treatment. Overall mortality rate was 0.4%.

CONCLUSION

To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first analysis of adult fractures according to the AO/OTA classification, over a 5-year period. As a future prospect, further multi-centric epidemiological studies are warranted to constitute a sustainable action plan for the prevention of major traumas.

Epidemiologic Study of Syrian Refugees Underwent Surgery Due to Fracture in a Tertiary Reference Hospital in Turkey

Aim This study aims to analyze the spectrum, management, and outcome of Syrian refugees' fracture over four-year period, highlighting challenges in management and follow-up. Methods This was a retrospective review of Syrian refugee patients operated for fractures at our centre from January 2015 to January 2019. The patients were evaluated for age, gender, mechanism of injury, location and type of fracture, presence of accompanying injuries, surgical technique, complications, mortality and morbidity. The comparison of complications and postop outpatient clinic controls between Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees were also evaluated. Results The study included a total of 455 patients comprising 281 adults (202 males, 79 females) with a mean (SD) age of 41.1 (19.3) years and 174 children with a mean age of 8.8 (4.9) years. The trauma mechanism was most commonly fall in both adult and pediatric patients (86.6% / 73.5%). Whilst lower limb fractures were more common in adults (73.7%), upper limb fractures were more common in children (63.4%). The presence of accompanying trauma was determined in 21 (7.5%) adults and 10 (5.7%) children. Multiple fractures were determined in 12 (4.3%) adults and eight (4.6%) children. Plate fixation (PF) was most used in 137 (48.8%) adult patients and K-wire augmentation was used in 75 (43.1%) pediatric patients. Out of the 455 patients, 41 (14.6%) adults and 13 (7.3%) children developed complications. Whilst three adult patients were died during follow-up, no deaths were recorded in the pediatric patients. Complication rate was 54/455 in Syrian refugees and 32/455 in citizens. It was observed that the complication was significantly higher in immigrants (p: 0.017). Sixty-five (14.2%) Syrian immigrants did not come to the outpatient clinic control at all or once, while this rate was 29/455 (6.3%) for Turkish citizens (p = 0.012). Conclusion Inadequate living conditions and lack of communication faced by refugees reduce the rate of patient follow-up and negatively affect the results of orthopedic trauma.

Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the epidemiology of orthopedics trauma in a region of central italy

• Italy is among the most affected countries by COVID-19. • The general lockdown significantly reduced road accident traumas, high energy traumas and sport injuries. • Domestic accidents or fall related traumas do not seem to show any variations..

Seasonal variation in trauma admissions to a level III trauma unit over 10 years

INTRODUCTION

Major trauma centres have improved morbidity and mortality for moderate and severely injured patients. Less injured patients may be treated in facilities less resourced for trauma care. In these units, understanding the variations in injury presentation and treatment over time allows service delivery to be tailored to demand. This study set out to describe seasonal variations in trauma over a 10-year period at a level III trauma unit.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patient demographics, admission frequency, site of injury, season of admission, management, complications, onward transfers, and length of stay were extracted on consecutive patients admitted with traumatic injuries between January 2009 and December 2018 and recorded on a prospectively maintained database. Analysis was undertaken to determine if there were reproducible patterns in trauma presentation across seasons, based on the patient's age and gender, type of injury, management and length of stay.

RESULTS

There were 13,007 'first admissions' over 10 years, with a mean (SD) age of 55.6 (27.7) years. Admissions were higher in summer (27%) and lower in winter (23.6%) and patients were on average younger in the summer (52.8 years) and older in winter (59.2 years). The proportion of female and male patients remained relatively constant across seasons (CV=6% and 8%, respectively). There was seasonal variation in the incidence of forearm (36%) elbow (19%), and multi-sites injuries (17%) compared with hip and wrist injuries (CV=5% for both). A lower proportion of patients underwent operations in summer (72%) compared with other seasons with winter having the highest at 77%. More patients aged less than 60 years stayed in hospital during winter than summer (13.2% vs. 11.6-12.4%) although often for a day. Patients aged 60 years stayed longer in spring and winter.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study demonstrate trends in the admission and management of trauma patients to a level III trauma unit. Some of the patterns in admission, treatment and length of stay had not been identified previously. The results can be used to enhance patient care and minimise health care costs by reducing unwarranted variations and enabling service delivery to match the demand in all trauma units.

Prevalência de idade e gênero e sua correspondência com os setores de fisioterapia ambulatorial de um instituto de ortopedia e traumatologia de referência da cidade de São Paulo

RESUMO Independentemente da natureza dos acidentes que ocorrem diariamente, as consequências frequentemente exigem reabilitação especializada. Este estudo pretende verificar qual setor de fisioterapia ambulatorial de um instituto de ortopedia e traumatologia apresenta maior prevalência de fichas de encaminhamento para atendimento. Além disso, pretende verificar qual gênero predomina e qual é a relação entre as faixas etárias e os setores de fisioterapia ambulatorial de um hospital de referência da cidade de São Paulo. Trata-se de um estudo prospectivo realizado entre março e dezembro de 2016 com uma amostra de 1507 fichas de encaminhamento ao Ambulatório de Fisioterapia do Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. O estudo mostrou que o setor Trauma em Fisioterapia Ambulatorial apresenta maior quantidade de fichas de encaminhamento, que o gênero masculino foi predominante e que há uma correspondência das relações entre diferentes faixas etárias e os setores de Fisioterapia Ambulatorial.