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Abstract

Background: The authors postulate that obesity in children increases the risk of distal radius fracture compared to children who are not obese. Because it is difficult to determine the population at risk, the authors observed the inverse of the rate of obesity in pediatric patients with distal radius fractures in an attempt to determine if there was a difference compared to national data on frequency of obesity in the pediatric population in general. If the rate of obesity was greater in distal radius fractures than the overall population, this would constitute evidence that obesity may increase the risk of distal radius fractures in children. The authors hypothesize a difference in the prevalence of obesity in children with distal radius fractures at an ethnically diverse tertiary referral center versus the nationally recorded averages from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Journal of Public Health (AJPH).

Methods: Medical records of children who underwent closed treatment of distal radius fractures at the tertiary referral center were reviewed from April 2010 to October 2012 (n = 357). Of the 344 medical records included, the authors recorded mechanism of injury, sex, date of birth, date of measurement, height, weight, and parent-reported race/ethnicity. The authors categorized patients into four age groups used by the CDC: two to 18 years old, two to five years old, six to 11 years old, and 12 to 18 years old. Data was analyzed using a chi-square test.

Results: For all race/ethnicities, the groups of two to five years old (n = 66) and six to 11 years old (n = 178) had a statistically higher prevalence of obesity than the reference. Native American children of all ages with distal radius fractures (n = 30) had a statistically higher prevalence of obesity than the reference.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that race/ethnicity may be tied to an increased risk of distal radius fractures in children with obesity than currently reported.

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