Epidemiology of congenital upper limb anomalies in Korea: A nationwide population-based study

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 9;16(3):e0248105. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248105. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the epidemiology of congenital upper limb anomalies (CULA) in Korea. We evaluated the incidence of each type of CULA, the presence of coexisting anomalies and the surgical treatment status in CULA patients. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients aged < 1 year between 2007 and 2016 who were registered with CULA in the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea. In total, 10,704 patients had CULA, including 6,174 boys (57.7%) and 4,530 girls (42.3%). The mean annual incidence of CULA was 23.5 per 10,000 live births; it was significantly higher in boys than in girls (26.3 vs. 20.5, p < 0.001). Among the four categories of CULA-polydactyly, syndactyly, limb deficiency, and other anomalies-polydactyly was the most common. In total, 4,149 patients (38.8%) had other congenital anomalies and coexisting anomalies of the circulatory system (24.9%) were the most common. In total 4,776 patients (44.6%) underwent operative treatment for CULA within minimum three years of the diagnosis. The proportion of patients who underwent surgical treatment was significantly higher for polydactyly (73.4% vs. 16.8%, p < 0.001) and syndactyly (65.3% vs. 41.5%, p < 0.001), but it was significantly lower in limb deficiency (27.6% vs. 45.4%, p < 0.001) and other anomalies (10.0% vs. 69.8%, p < 0.001) than rest of CULA patients. Among the patients who had operations, 21.5% underwent multiple operations. The proportion of patients who underwent multiple operations was significantly higher in syndactyly (35.6% vs. 18.1%, p < 0.001), but it was significantly lower in polydactyly (4.0% vs. 95.5%, p < 0.001) and other anomalies (17.9% vs. 21.9%, p < 0.001) than rest of CULA patients. These results could provide a basis for estimating the national healthcare costs for CULA and the required number of CULA specialists.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Republic of Korea / epidemiology
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Sex Factors
  • Upper Extremity Deformities, Congenital / complications
  • Upper Extremity Deformities, Congenital / diagnosis
  • Upper Extremity Deformities, Congenital / epidemiology*

Grants and funding

Initials of the authors who received each award: YHS Grant numbers awarded to each author: 2020IT0003-1 The full name of each funder: Asan Medical Center Children`s hospital URL of each funder website: http://www.amc.seoul.kr/asan/departments/deptListTypeF.do The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.