The prevalence of chest wall deformity in Turkish children

This study aimed to identify children who have chest wall deformity, the prevalence of deformity, and the factors affecting the psychological and physical disorders caused by the deformity.

The study was conducted among 14,108 girls and boys aged 11–14 years, who were 5th–8th grade secondary school students in Ankara Province between October 2014 and March 2015.

Of the 14,108 students in our study, the mean age of the children was 12.53 ± 1.11 years (median 12.54, 11–14 years) and chest wall deformity was detected in 199 (1.41%) students. Male/female and pectus carinatum/pectus excavatum ratios were 2.16 and 1.59, respectively. According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, physical disturbance was found to be statistically significantly higher among children in age group 11 [adjusted OR (95% CI) =16.01 (1.89–135.61), P < 0.011] and in children who were aware of the deformity [adjusted OR (95% CI) = 0.31 (0.13–0.71), P < 0.006], and psychological disturbance was found to be statistically significantly higher in girls [adjusted OR (95% CI) = 15.44 (1.68–141.59), P < 0.015] and in those with a presence of family history [adjusted OR (95% CI) = 18.66 (1.92–181.60), P < 0.012].

In this study conducted in a large population, chest wall deformities were found to be more prevalent in boys (0.96%) and pectus carinatum was found as the most common deformity type in our country, contrary to the literature.