The risk of non-union per fracture: current myths and revised figures from a population of over 4 million adults.

ABSTRACT: Background and purpose - Fracture non-union remains a major clinical problem, yet there are no data available regarding the overall risk of fractures progressing to non-union in a large population. We investigated the rate of non-union per fracture in a large adult population. Methods - National data collected prospectively over a 5-year period and involving just under 5,000 non-unions were analyzed and compared to the incidence of fracture in the same period. Results and interpretation - The overall risk of non-union per fracture was 1.9%, which is considerably less than previously believed. However, for certain fractures in specific age groups the risk of non-union rose to 9%. As expected, these higher rates of non-union were observed with tibial and clavicular fractures, but-less expect

SUBMITTER: Mills LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5499337 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature