Patterns Of Pediatric Femur Shaft Fractures At St.Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, AaBET Hospital,Addis Ababa,Ethiopia,2019.

Abstract

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Seventy percent of femoral fractures involve the shaft. Femoral shaft fractures represent the most common pediatric orthopedic injury that requires hospitalization. The epidemiology of femur shaft fractures is well described in literature from developed countries. Few studies have been published on paediatric femoral fractures in resource-constraint environments like the sub-Saharan African region. OBJECTIVES: To determine patterns of pediatric femur shaft fractures at st.paul’s hospital millennium medical college, AaBET hospital. METHODS: Institution based retrospective cross sectional study was conducted. All pediatric patients (cards) with femur shaft fractures who were treated between September 2015 and August 2018 were reviewed. All patients that fulfill the inclusion criteria were studied. Data abstraction format was used to collect data. The data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the patterns of the femur shaft fracture. RESULT: ninety one patients who had femur shaft fractures were recruited in the study. Males were 67(73.6%). The mean age was 8.8 years. The most commonly involved age group was >6 years to 12 years i.e. 40 (44%). Majority of the fracture were due to fall (41.8%). Most fractures occurred in June to August (36.3%). Left side was involved in 45 (49.5%) of the cases. Eighteen patients (19.8%) had associated injury and the most common associated injury was head injury 7 (38.9%). Closed fracture was the most common type 84(92.3%). Traction followed by spica was the most common treatment modality (28.6%). The mean lenth of hospitalization was 15.3 days. CONCLUSION: The age group most affected was 6 years to 12 years. Fall accidents predominated as the etiology. Closed femoral diaphyseal fractures predominated. The treatment most used was conservative.