Klahs KJ, Dertinger JE, Mello GT, Thapa K, Sandler AB, Garcia EJJ, Parnes N. Epidemiologic investigation of pediatric distal humerus fractures: An American insurance claims database study. World J Orthop 2024; 15(1): 52-60 [PMID: 38293264 DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v15.i1.52]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Kyle Jay Klahs, DO, Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Texas Tech University Health Sciences-El Paso, No. 5001 El Paso Dr, El Paso, TX 79905, United States. kyle.j.klahs@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Orthop. Jan 18, 2024; 15(1): 52-60 Published online Jan 18, 2024. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v15.i1.52
Epidemiologic investigation of pediatric distal humerus fractures: An American insurance claims database study
Kyle Jay Klahs, Jake E Dertinger, Grant T Mello, Kevin Thapa, Alexis B Sandler, E'Stephan J Jesus Garcia, Nata Parnes
Kyle Jay Klahs, Alexis B Sandler, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Texas Tech University Health Sciences-El Paso, El Paso, TX 79905, United States
Jake E Dertinger, Grant T Mello, Medical School, California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Clovis, CA 93611, United States
Kevin Thapa, Undergraduate School, Binghampton University, Vestal, NY 13902, United States
E'Stephan J Jesus Garcia, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Fort Bliss, TX 79918, United States
Nata Parnes, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Carthage Area Hospital, Carthage, NY 13619, United States
Author contributions: Klahs KJ wrote the manuscript and designed the project; Dertinger JE and Mello GT sorted and analyzed the data, and performed the literature review; Thapa K sorted and analyzed the data; Sandler AB assisted with manuscript formatting and edits; Garcia EJJ and Parnes N provided vision and direction, along with edits.
Institutional review board statement: Not applicable (de-identified database study).
Informed consent statement: Not applicable (de-identified database study).
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kyle Jay Klahs, DO, Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Texas Tech University Health Sciences-El Paso, No. 5001 El Paso Dr, El Paso, TX 79905, United States. kyle.j.klahs@gmail.com
Received: September 11, 2023 Peer-review started: September 11, 2023 First decision: November 23, 2023 Revised: November 28, 2023 Accepted: December 19, 2023 Article in press: December 19, 2023 Published online: January 18, 2024 Processing time: 127 Days and 1.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Distal humerus elbow fractures are one of the most common traumatic fractures seen in pediatric patients and present as three main types: Supracondylar (SC), lateral condyle (LC), and medial epicondyle (ME) fractures.
AIM
To evaluate the epidemiology of pediatric distal humerus fractures (SC, LC, and ME) from an American insurance claims database.
METHODS
A retrospective review was performed on patients 17 years and younger with the ICD 9 and 10 codes for SC, LC and ME fractures based on the IBM Truven MarketScan® Commercial and IBM Truven MarketScan Medicare Supplemental databases. Patients from 2015 to 2020 were queried for treatments, patient age, sex, length of hospitalization, and comorbidities.
RESULTS
A total of 1133 SC, 154 LC, and 124 ME fractures were identified. SC fractures had the highest percentage of operation at 83%, followed by LC (78%) and ME fractures (41%). Male patients were, on average, older than female patients for both SC and ME fractures.
CONCLUSION
In the insurance claims databases used, SC fractures were the most reported, followed by LC fractures, and finally ME fractures. Age was identified to be a factor for how a pediatric distal humerus fractures, with patients with SC and LC fractures being younger than those with ME fractures. The peak age per injury per sex was similar to reported historic central tendencies, despite reported trends for younger physiologic development.
Core Tip: In this insurance claims databases used, supracondylar (SC) fractures were the most reported, followed by lateral condyle (LC) and finally medial epicondyle (ME) fractures. Age was identified to be a factor for how a pediatric distal humerus fractures, with patients with SC and LC fractures being younger than those with ME fractures. The peak age per injury per sex was similar to reported historic central tendencies, despite reported trends for younger physiologic development.
