Williams Emma, Hu Vivian, Haaland Cooper, Reghunathan Meera, Haines Laura N, Doucet Jay J, Costantini Todd W, Hinchcliff Katharine M
School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
J Hand Surg Glob Online. 2024 Aug 30;6(6):830-835. doi: 10.1016/j.jhsg.2024.07.002. eCollection 2024 Nov.
From 2018-2019, the height of over 400 miles of southern border wall was raised to 30 feet. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of the increase in border wall height on upper-extremity injuries sustained via barrier fall.
A retrospective review of patients admitted with upper-extremity injuries sustained via border wall fall between January 2015 and December 2022 at a Level 1 trauma center serving the United States-Mexico border. Patients admitted between 2015-2018 were included in the preincrease group, and those admitted between 2019-2022 were included in the postincrease group. Demographic data, injury severity metrics, fracture characteristics, operative treatments, hospital charges, and lengths of stay were compared.
In total, 110 patients were identified, with 16 preincrease and 94 postincrease. Following the barrier height increase, patients had higher injury severity scores. Radial fractures were most common pre- and postincrease and accounted for nearly one-third of all fractures. Postincrease upper-extremity trauma patients required more operative events (2.15 ± 2.10 vs 1.44 ± 0.73 preincrease). The average cost for each patient's hospital stay also quadrupled after the increase in wall height ($397,632 ± $1,057,574 vs $98,978 ± $84,169 preincrease).
The increase in overall injury severity and costly inpatient treatment of upper-extremity injuries among patients who fell from the border following construction has placed additional stress on an already strained health care system.
Differential Diagnosis/Symptom Prevalence Study, IV.
2018 - 2019年，超过400英里的南部边境墙高度被提升至30英尺。我们的目的是评估边境墙高度增加对因翻越障碍物坠落导致的上肢损伤的影响。
对2015年1月至2022年12月期间在美国 - 墨西哥边境的一级创伤中心因翻越边境墙坠落导致上肢损伤而入院的患者进行回顾性研究。2015 - 2018年入院的患者纳入增高前组，2019 - 2022年入院的患者纳入增高后组。比较人口统计学数据、损伤严重程度指标、骨折特征、手术治疗、医院费用和住院时间。
共识别出110例患者，其中增高前16例，增高后94例。边境墙高度增加后，患者的损伤严重程度评分更高。桡骨骨折在增高前后最为常见，占所有骨折的近三分之一。增高后上肢创伤患者需要更多的手术治疗（2.15±2.10比增高前的1.44±0.73）。墙高增加后，每位患者住院的平均费用也增加了两倍（397,632美元±1,057,574美元比增高前的98,978美元±84,169美元）。
边境墙建成后，从边境坠落的患者上肢损伤的总体严重程度增加以及住院治疗费用高昂，给本已紧张的医疗系统带来了额外压力。
鉴别诊断/症状患病率研究，IV级。
