Analysis of geriatric patients with minor spinal trauma admitted to the emergency department of a university hospital

Abstract

Objective: To retrospectively analyze patients aged 65 years and over, who were admitted to a level II trauma center in Turkey due to minor spinal trauma in a period of 4 years. Methods: The study included 64 patients aged 65 years and over, who were admitted to the Emergency Department of Baskent University Ankara Hospital between January 2011 and January 2015 and diagnosed with vertebral trauma. The information of the patients was obtained from the medical records. The clinical characteristics of patients including localizations and types of fracture, presence of additional system injuries and treatment options were investigated. Results: The most common cause was fall, accounting for 51 (79.7%), with 7 (10.9%) due to intra-vehicle traffic accident, and 6 (9.4%) due to out-of-vehicle pedestrian injury. The most common site of trauma was the lumbar region. Of the fractures, 46.9% (n=30) were in the lumbar region, 37.5% (n=24) in the thoracic region and 15.6% (n=10) were in the cervical vertebra region. Fourteen (21.9%) patients had an additional injury. Given the fracture types, 47 fractures (74.6%) were compression, 14 fractures (22.2%) were spinous process and 2 fractures (3.2%) were burst fractures. Twenty patients (31.2%) had multilevel vertebral fractures. Conclusions: The results of our study demonstrated the importance of vertebral fractures in the geriatric age group. In this age group, falls and motor vehicle accidents are the leading causes of vertebral traumas. Taking the necessary measures to prevent the risk factors which increase with aging is the most important step in preventing the mortality and morbidity that may occur as a result of vertebral fracture.

Keywords

• Elderly
• Trauma
• Vertebral column