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Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery - British Volume, Vol 88-B, Issue 11, 1469-1473.
doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.88B11.17634  
Copyright © 2006 by British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery
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Fractures of the shaft of the humerus

AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF 401 FRACTURES

R. Ekholm, MD, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon1; J. Adami, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology2; J. Tidermark, MD, PhD, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon1; K. Hansson, MD, Registrar1; H. Törnkvist, MD, PhD, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon1; and S. Ponzer, MD, PhD, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon1

1 Department of Orthopaedics, Stockholm Söder Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
2 Department of Medicine, Clinical Epidemiological Unit Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm S-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden.

Correspondence should be sent to Dr R. Ekholm at Department of Orthopaedics, Stockholm Söder Hospital, S-118 83 Stockholm, Sweden; e-mail: radford.ekholm{at}sodersjukhuset.se

We studied the epidemiology of 401 fractures of the shaft of the humerus in 397 patients aged 16 years or older. The incidence was 14.5 per 100 000 per year with a gradually increasing age-specific incidence from the fifth decade, reaching almost 60 per 100 000 per year in the ninth decade. Most were closed fractures in elderly patients which had been sustained as the result of a simple fall. The age distribution in women was characterised by a peak in the eighth decade while that in men was more even. Simple fractures were by far the most common and most were located in the middle or proximal shaft. The incidence of palsy of the radial nerve was 8% and fractures in the middle and distal shaft were most likely to be responsible. Only 2% of the fractures were open and 8% were pathological. These figures are representative of a population with a low incidence of high-energy and penetrating trauma, which probably reflects the situation in most European countries.




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Hip, Knee, Trauma, Upper limb, Foot & Ankle, Paediatrics, Oncology, Spine, Arthroplasty, General