Differences in patient and injury characteristics between sports- and non-sports related distal radius fractures.

Introduction: The incidence of distal radius fractures (DRFs) is increasing as the number of people in recreational or sporting activities rises, due to a combination of increased leisure time and greater public awareness of the health-related benefits of sports. Despite the increases in sports-related distal radius fractures (SR-DRFs), there are limited studies regarding the characteristics of treatment and recovery.
Hypothesis: There are characteristics specific to SR-DRF treated with conservative or operative management.
Material and Methods: Retrospective review was carried out between January 2010 and December 2017. Overall, 1706 patients were included in the study analysis. Among them, 317 patients were injured during sports activity (18.6%) and 1389 were injured during non-sports activity (81.4%). Demographic data were compared between the two groups. The type of sports was investigated in SR-DRF. Also, we compared surgically treated DRF patients to describe differences in patient characteristics, fracture characteristics, and postoperative complications.
Results: The mean age of patients with SR-DRFs was significantly younger (28 vs. 52 years). The proportion of men was also significantly higher in SR-DRF group compared to NSR-DRF group (62.8 vs. 33.8%). We identified 27 kinds of sports associated with DRFs and the 5 sports topping the list associated were soccer (22.7%), cycling (17.7%), snowboarding (11.0%), ice-skating (9.1%), and mountain hiking (9.1%). There was no difference in terms of the treatment method. However, SR-DRF group had higher proportion of AO/OTA type A fracture (32.6 vs. 13.7%), and NSR-DRF group had higher proportion of type C fracture (79.5 vs. 64.2%). Postoperative complications showed no significant differences, except higher implant removal rate in SR-DRF.
Discussion: Patients with SR-DRF were significantly younger and had higher proportion of men. Proportion of AO/OTA type A was higher in SR-DRF group and proportion of AO/OTA type C was higher in NSR-DRF group. Proportion of surgical treatment was similar in two groups. Given the growing population participating in sports activity worldwide, SR-DRFs are predicted to increase and further study is required.
Level of Evidence: III; retrospective, epidemiological study.
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