Abstract
Hand and wrist fractures range among the most common fractures. In the authors' sample these fractures represented 32 %.
The treatment of such fractures is not always easy, and despite the doctor's efforts they can result in different degrees of residual dysfunction of the hand. In their prospective study, the authors focused on the findings from epidemiological data of patients with hand injuries treated in the authors' clinic during one year, on the frequency and type of bone injury and methods of treatment.
A group of 242 patients was treated for a broken arm or wrist in 2008. This included 61 women (25%) and 181 men (75%).
The average age was 35.1 years (age group 15-91 years). In their prospective study, the authors recorded the basic epidemiological characteristics (gender and age), as well as the mechanism of injury, localization of the fracture on the hand skeleton, types of injuries and the number of fragments in a database form.
The collected data were evaluated using descriptive statistical methods; gender distribution was evaluated by the Χ2 test at 5% significance level. The injuries occurred most frequently in men under 35 years of age.
The most common mechanism of injury was a simple fall (59.5%). The highest number of patients was treated in August as well as in October (29 each).
The lowest number of hand and wrist fractures was recorded in May. The most commonly injured bone was the fifth metacarpus - a total of 65 cases (7 times in conjunction with the fourth metacarpal bone) (26.4%).
The skafoideum bone was the second most frequently injured bone - 17 fractures (6.8%). In the literature the authors found only several articles relating to epidemiological studies of wrist and hand injuries.
Most of the literature is consistent with the authors' observations of a higher frequency of ulnar bone injuries of the hand, with the majority of fractures of the hand and wrist occurring in men to thirty years of age, and the most frequently broken bone of the wrist being the skafoideum bone.