title: Characteristics of femur fractures in ambulatory young children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine and identify the characteristics and circumstances of femur fractures in ambulatory young children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of 203 ambulatory children, between 1 and 5 years old, presenting with femur fractures to an urban paediatric hospital over a 10-year period. χ(2) And Student's t test were employed for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 36.6 months, with 155 (76.2%) being male. The most frequent mechanism of injury was fall from a height (n=62, 30.5%). The highest number of injuries occurred in 2-3-year-olds. The most common history in 1-2-year-olds was stumbling on/over something causing a fall. For 4-5 year olds it was road traffic accidents. Other additional physical findings were infrequent (14.3%) and not suspicious of inflicted injury. Child protective services concluded three of the cases to be likely non-accidental, and four cases were inconclusive but requiring close follow-up. Of these seven children, six occurred in 1-2-year-olds. No distinguishing feature was noted in fracture type or location.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Femur fractures can occur with low velocity injury whether from a short fall or twisting/stumbling injury in young healthy ambulatory children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Capra
authors.forename: Alex V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shouldice
mesh_terms: D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors