title: Age- and gender-specific clinical characteristics of acute adult spine fractures in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the age- and gender-specific clinical characteristics of adult spine fractures in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective investigation was performed on consecutive patients with acute spinal fractures in 83 hospitals of 31 provinces in China between January 2010 and December 2011. All adult patients (≥16 years) with spinal column fracture were included, while pathologic, old, and periprosthetic fractures were excluded. Each patient was analysed by reviewing the medical records and initial radiographs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 54,533 adult patients with spinal column fractures, accounting for 14.57 % of overall fractures. The medium age was 57 years (range 16-100 years). There were 27,466 male patients with medium age of 49 years and 27,067 females with medium age of 63 years. The male to female ratio was 1.01:1 in study. It was 1.74:1 in patients less than 59 years, and 0.51:1 above 60 years. The most common injury site was L1, which accounted for 33.83 % of cases. In the AO classification, the 53A and 52A groups comprised 85.53 % of all fractures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates the age- and gender-specific clinical characteristics of adults spine fractures and reveals a significant relationship among ages, sex, fracture localisation and complexity of spine fractures. Using the age of patients, the likelihood of sustaining adult spine fractures is predictable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139 Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People's Republic of China. tianye_terry@hotmail.com.|Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People's Republic of China. tianye_terry@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139 Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People's Republic of China. zhuyanbin111@126.com.|Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People's Republic of China. zhuyanbin111@126.com.
authors.forename: Yanbin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139 Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People's Republic of China. 12477158@qq.com.|Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People's Republic of China. 12477158@qq.com.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139 Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People's Republic of China. 136384256@qq.com.|Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People's Republic of China. 136384256@qq.com.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139 Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People's Republic of China. 838332606@qq.com.|Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People's Republic of China. 838332606@qq.com.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139 Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People's Republic of China. drchenwei1981@gmail.com.|Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People's Republic of China. drchenwei1981@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139 Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People's Republic of China. yzling_liu@163.com.|Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People's Republic of China. yzling_liu@163.com.
authors.forename: Yingze
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057068:Periprosthetic Fractures; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: AO classification; Adult; Spine fractures