Supracondylar humeral fractures and lateral elbow condyle fractures in children: association between body weight, clinical signs, and fracture severity.

BACKGROUND

The objective of our study was to investigate the association between body weight, clinical signs and surgical time, and the severity of elbow fractures sustained exclusively by a ground-level fall in children.

METHODS

Patients aged 2-11 years with elbow fracture caused exclusively by a ground-level fall were included. BMI was plotted on the sex-specific BMI-for-age percentile growth chart to obtain the BMI percentile. The elbow fractures were classified according to Gartland Classification for supracondylar fractures and the Song Classification for lateral humeral condyle fracture. Our main outcome measurement was Body Mass Index and fracture severity according Gartland or Song classifications.

RESULTS

A total of 175 patients with elbow fractures were included in this study. The mean age of total population was 5.4 years (±2.4). The majority of our patients were male (61.7%), nearly of 48% were overweight or obese patients. The ecchymosis and puckering were the clinical sign more frequent in more severe fractures.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data presented did not observe a direct relation between obesity and the severity of elbow humeral fractures in the pediatric population with a ground-level fall.