The Incidence of Age and Types of Fractures within the Pediatric Population: A Retrospective Chart Analysis of a Single Provider

Their about 350,000 children are treated for playground equipment-related injuries in the US hospital ER rooms and the cost of care continues to rise.1 The incidence and type of fracture seen has been well documented but there has not been a recent comprehensive data collection on pediatric fractures. Review of the literature suggests children tend to fracture the upper extremity bones more than the lower extremity bones.2 This research will provide a comprehensive study on the incidence of age and types of fractures within the pediatric population by way of retrospective analysis from a single provider over 13 months. Patients entered into the project were those who sustained a fracture that was diagnosed via x-ray imaging were managed in the inpatient and/or outpatient setting of the Orthopaedic Hospital in Los Angeles, California. These patients were evaluated by a nurse practitioner throughout their healing process. Demographic information of patients from birth to 18 years of age was entered into a Microsoft Excel database to evaluate the frequency of age and types of fractures. The number of patients completed the study was 2028. The results illustrate that males represented 2/3rd of the total population. In addition, of all extremity fractures, the forearm was the most frequent bone fractured. Overall the incidence of age and fracture types from this study parallels current literatures and suggest appropriate representation of the pediatric population