Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the age- and gender-specific clinical characteristics of adult spine fractures in China.
Method: A retrospective investigation was performed on consecutive patients with acute spinal fractures in 83 hospitals of 31 provinces in China between January 2010 and December 2011. All adult patients (≥16 years) with spinal column fracture were included, while pathologic, old, and periprosthetic fractures were excluded. Each patient was analysed by reviewing the medical records and initial radiographs.
Results: There were 54,533 adult patients with spinal column fractures, accounting for 14.57 % of overall fractures. The medium age was 57 years (range 16-100 years). There were 27,466 male patients with medium age of 49 years and 27,067 females with medium age of 63 years. The male to female ratio was 1.01:1 in study. It was 1.74:1 in patients less than 59 years, and 0.51:1 above 60 years. The most common injury site was L1, which accounted for 33.83 % of cases. In the AO classification, the 53A and 52A groups comprised 85.53 % of all fractures.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates the age- and gender-specific clinical characteristics of adults spine fractures and reveals a significant relationship among ages, sex, fracture localisation and complexity of spine fractures. Using the age of patients, the likelihood of sustaining adult spine fractures is predictable.
Keywords: AO classification; Adult; Spine fractures.