Epidemiological Investigation Of Adult Distal Tibial Fractures In The East Coast And West Inland Areas In China From 2010 Through 2011

Objective : To compare epidemiological characteristics of adult distal tibial fractures between the east coast and west inland areas in China.Methods: Ten hospitals in the east coast area(group A)and ten hospitals in the west inland area(group B)were selected.Analytic items included gender,age and AO type.Comparisons were made between groups A and groups B.The data were assigned into 3 age groups :young group(from 16 to 45 years),middle-aged group(from 46 to 65 years)and elderly group(≧66 years).Results : There were 1166 adult distal tibial fractures in group A and 930 in group B,accounting for 13.02% and 12.28% of the tibial fractures,and 2.05% and1.89% of all the adult fractures respectively.The ratio of male to female was 2.05:1 in group A and 1.98:1 in group B.The average age was 43.8±15.5 years in group A and 44.8±15.8 years in group B.The youth group in both groups had the highest proportion of distal tibial fractures.Type 43-A accounted for 28.99% in group A and 48.49% in group B.Type 43-B accounted for 48.20% in group A and 19.46% in group B.Conclusions: The adult distal tibial fractures in the east coast and west inland areas accounted for 13.02% and 12.28% of the tibial fractures,and 2.05% and1.89% of all the adult fractures respectively.The east coast area witnessed higher proportions of type 43-B than the west inland area,but lower proportions of type 43-A and 43-C.