Incidence of five common fracture types in an institutional epileptic population.
We have reviewed 4521 patient-years and analysed 185,066 seizures to calculate the incidence of five common fractures in an epileptic population. Only 25.0 per cent of these fractures were known to have occurred during a seizure. When age and sex matched against a 'normal population', there was an increased incidence of femoral neck fractures (5.2 x), inter-trochanteric fractures (9.9 x), ankle fractures (9.9 x) and proximal humerus fractures (4.2 x). Surprisingly, there was no increased incidence of wrist fractures. Overall, there was a 4.3 x increased risk for all fractures and 3.2 x increased risk of fractures not related to fits. There was no evidence for the first fracture occurring at a younger age in this population. The possible causes of this greatly increased risk are discussed.
Desai
K B
KB
Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
Ribbans
W J
WJ
Taylor
G J
GJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000150:complications; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications*; D004830:Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012784:Shoulder Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D014954:Wrist Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology