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An increasing number of hand injuries in an elderly population - A retrospective study over a 30-year period

Rosberg, Hans Eric LU and Dahlin, Lars B. LU orcid (2018) In BMC Geriatrics 18(1).
Abstract

Background: Both the number and the proportion of elderly people in the society increase. The number of elderly subjects with a disability due to a disease has decreased resulting in more active elderly. Therefore, an increase in numbers of injury in the elderly population can be expected; a hypothesis that was investigated in the present study. Methods: Two-hundred sixteen patients with an age of > 65 years, and admitted to a hand surgery ward with a hand injury, were retrospectively collected at four different 2-years periods over a 30 years time (1980-81 to 2010-11). Information about patient gender, age at injury, injury place and mechanism (s), injured structures, duration of hospital stay, number of out patient visits and... (More)

Background: Both the number and the proportion of elderly people in the society increase. The number of elderly subjects with a disability due to a disease has decreased resulting in more active elderly. Therefore, an increase in numbers of injury in the elderly population can be expected; a hypothesis that was investigated in the present study. Methods: Two-hundred sixteen patients with an age of > 65 years, and admitted to a hand surgery ward with a hand injury, were retrospectively collected at four different 2-years periods over a 30 years time (1980-81 to 2010-11). Information about patient gender, age at injury, injury place and mechanism (s), injured structures, duration of hospital stay, number of out patient visits and rehabilitation visits as well as social status was collected. The injuries were classified with the Modified Hand Injury Severity Score (MHISS). Results: Most injured patients were men (72%) and the number of patients who reported to be healthy significantly decreased (67% to 18%) during the study period. The number of injuries increased over the study period (n = 24 to n = 83/2-year period). Outside home was the most common injury place and a saw or a fall was the most frequent injury mechanism. Several fingers were most often injured. The majority of the injuries were classified to be Minor or Moderate (MHISS) and a fracture was the most common injured structure. Conclusions: We found an increased number of hand injuries over a 30-year period in combination with a decrease in patients reported health treated at a hand surgery ward. Further studies regarding hand trauma in the elderly population will be valuable for future prevention and rehabilitation of this patient group.

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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Elderly, Hand injury
in
BMC Geriatrics
volume
18
issue
1
article number
68
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85043360258
  • pmid:29523088
ISSN
1471-2318
DOI
10.1186/s12877-018-0758-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
64b28c38-c54f-4aa3-ac8b-614bfd9bd737
date added to LUP
2018-03-29 14:12:44
date last changed
2024-04-01 03:31:13
@article{64b28c38-c54f-4aa3-ac8b-614bfd9bd737,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Both the number and the proportion of elderly people in the society increase. The number of elderly subjects with a disability due to a disease has decreased resulting in more active elderly. Therefore, an increase in numbers of injury in the elderly population can be expected; a hypothesis that was investigated in the present study. Methods: Two-hundred sixteen patients with an age of &gt; 65 years, and admitted to a hand surgery ward with a hand injury, were retrospectively collected at four different 2-years periods over a 30 years time (1980-81 to 2010-11). Information about patient gender, age at injury, injury place and mechanism (s), injured structures, duration of hospital stay, number of out patient visits and rehabilitation visits as well as social status was collected. The injuries were classified with the Modified Hand Injury Severity Score (MHISS). Results: Most injured patients were men (72%) and the number of patients who reported to be healthy significantly decreased (67% to 18%) during the study period. The number of injuries increased over the study period (n = 24 to n = 83/2-year period). Outside home was the most common injury place and a saw or a fall was the most frequent injury mechanism. Several fingers were most often injured. The majority of the injuries were classified to be Minor or Moderate (MHISS) and a fracture was the most common injured structure. Conclusions: We found an increased number of hand injuries over a 30-year period in combination with a decrease in patients reported health treated at a hand surgery ward. Further studies regarding hand trauma in the elderly population will be valuable for future prevention and rehabilitation of this patient group.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rosberg, Hans Eric and Dahlin, Lars B.}},
  issn         = {{1471-2318}},
  keywords     = {{Elderly; Hand injury}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Geriatrics}},
  title        = {{An increasing number of hand injuries in an elderly population - A retrospective study over a 30-year period}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-018-0758-7}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12877-018-0758-7}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}