Tibial Tuberosity Fracture: A Highly Selective Injury

Tibial tuberosity fracture (TTF) is an uncommon injury occurring mostly in adolescents. The association between race and TTF has not been investigated. We aimed to determine whether there is an association between race and hospital admission for pediatric TTF and to evaluate previously determined risk factors for TTF using a large sample.

This was a cross-sectional analysis of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality/Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2016 Kids' Inpatient Database (KID). We compared admissions for TTF to admissions for all other diagnoses. Because forearm fracture has not been found to be associated with race, univariate and multivariate analyses comparing admissions for TTF to admissions for forearm fracture were also performed. Sample weights were used to preserve national estimates.

Of 692 patients admitted for TTF in 2016, 93.2% were male. Factors associated with TTF admission compared with other admission diagnoses on multivariate analysis included male sex (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 17.67, confidence interval (CI) 12.25-25.47), age 13 to15 (aOR 10.33, CI 5.67-18.82, reference: age 8-12), and black (aOR 8.04, CI 3.91-16.49) and Hispanic (aOR 2.69, 95% CI 1.30-5.55) races/ethnicities (reference: Caucasian). Compared with forearm fracture admission, black race had an aOR of 22.05 (CI 10.08-48.21) for TTF admission on multivariate analysis. The effect of race on TTF admission also varied significantly with age, with 12 years carrying the strongest association of black race with TTF admission.

Black race is a previously unreported, strong independent risk factor for TTF. Male sex and age 13 to 15 are also strong risk factors for TTF, making this a highly selective fracture.

Prognostic Level III.