Epidemiology of pediatric hand surgery emergencies. Retrospective study of 245 patients seen over 10 months in two referral centers.

BACKGROUND: The primary objective of this retrospective study was to analyse the epidemiology and assess the characteristics of all paediatric hand injuries requiring emergent surgery.

HYPOTHESIS: Paediatric hand emergencies that require surgical treatment have a specific epidemiological distribution.

METHODS: We conducted a multicentre retrospective descriptive epidemiological study of surgical paediatric hand emergencies seen over 10 consecutive months.

RESULTS: We included 245 patients between the 1st of January and the 31st of October 2016. Irrespective of age, most injuries (69%) occurred at home; 11% (n=26) occurred at school and 4% in a sports centre. Overall, most injuries involved the dorsal aspect and affected the fingers more often than the hand. The most common lesion was crush injury of a distal phalanx (36% of cases). Door guards were in use in only 9% of homes (n=8), and mean age of the patients in this group was 5 years Paronychia/acute infections accounted for 27% of cases. Wounds of the hands of fingers made up 23% of cases, with the palmar aspect being involved in 70% of cases. The wound was often due to the use of a sharp-edged object. Fractures/dislocations accounted for 12% of cases and bites or scratches for 2%.

DISCUSSION: This study showed that the most common hand injuries requiring emergent surgery in a paediatric population are crush injuries of the fingertip such as door-crush injuries, which most often occur at home. Reinforcing prevention strategies should be the main priority in order to decrease the incidence of hand lesions in children. Raising awareness among parents and improving the education of the public could significantly decrease the incidence of these injuries.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV; retrospective cohort.