Ulnar bone fracture epidemiology and demographics

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Mohammadmain Rezazadehsaatlou[2] ;

Overview

Despite the great medical interest in the field of orthopedic medicine and the upper extremities fractures, there are few published reports on the epidemiology of this type fractures in the United States. Its been reported that in 1998 there were 1,465,874 cases with hand/forearm fractures, accounting for 1.5% of all emergency department cases.

Epidemiology

Radius and/or ulna fractures are known as the largest proportion of fractures accounting for almost 44% of cases. Meanwhile, the most affected age group of the radius and/or ulna fractures are 5 to 14 years of age. According to the results of the 2010 National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) and the 2010 US Census databases, the forearm fractures accounted for 17.8% of all fractures and also it was as the most common type of fracture in the pediatric population with the age 0-19 years. But there are few details about the incidence of fractures of the radius and ulna in adult population. Also, the data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey showed that the radius, the ulna, or both fractures accounted for 44% of all forearm and hand fractures in the United States.