Epidemiological investigation and analysis of upper cervical spine injury in The Third Affiliated Hospital to Hebei Medical University from 2003 to 2012 / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the epidemiological features and trends of upper cervical spine injury in The Third Affiliated Hospital to Hebei Medical University from 2003 to 2012.Methods The clinical data of upper cervical spine fractures treated between January 2003 and December 2012 at our hospital were collected through the PACS system and case reports checking system.The fractures treated from January 2003 through December 2007 were assigned into group A while those from January 2008 through December 2012 into group B.Analytic items included gender,age and fracture type.Results A total of 201 upper cervical spine fractures were treated during the 10 years,accounting for 1.6％ (201/12,427) of the spinal fractures and 0.2％ (201 / 107,648) of all human fractures.They were 125 males and 76 female,with a male to female ratio of 1.64∶ 1.Their ages ranged from 16 to 97 years,with a mean age of 42 years.The age distribution showed that the peak age was from 21 to 50 years (65.2％,131/201).Sixty cases were atlas fractures and 141 axis fractures,most of which were both males.Sixteen upper cervical spine fractures were complicated with lower cervical spine injury,accounting for 8.0％ of all the upper cervical spine fractures (16/201).In group A,the upper cervical spine injury accounted for 2.3％ (106/4,676) of the contemporary spinal injury and 0.2％ (106/55,423) of the contemporary human fractures;in group B,the upper cervical spine injury accounted for 1.2％ (95/7,751) of the contemporary spinal injury and 0.2％ (95/52,225) of the contemporary human fractures.Compared with group A,the proportion of type C atlas injury in group B increased by 39.6％.Conclusions The upper cervical spine fractures during the 10 years accounted for 1.6％ of the spinal fractures and 0.2％ of all human fractures.Most of the patients were young male adults.The axis fractures accounted for 70.1％ of the upper cervical spine injury,most of which (62.4％) were dens fractures.8.0％ of the patients were complicated with lower cervical spine injury.Comparisons between the former and latter 5 years showed no significant difference in gender constituent ratio,a significant difference in age constituent ratio and an increasing trend in type C atlas injury.