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Updated: Jul 23, 2025
Method and Instrumented Fixture for Femoral Fracture Testing in a Sideways Fall-on-the-Hip Position
Published on: August 17, 2017
Obese adolescents have higher risk for severe lower extremity fractures after falling
Nicolas Gonzalez1, Jeffry Nahmias1, Sebastian Schubl1
1Irvine Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care, University of California, 3800 Chapman Ave, Suite 6200, Orange, CA, 92868-3298, USA.
Introduction:
Reports vary on the impact of obesity on the incidence of lower extremity fractures after a fall. We hypothesized that obese adolescents (OA) presenting after a fall have a higher risk of any and severe lower extremity fractures compared to non-OAs.
Methods:
A national database was queried for adolescents (12-17 years old) after a fall. Primary outcome included lower extremity fracture. Adolescents with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 (OA) were compared to adolescents with a BMI < 30 (non-OA).
Results:
From 20,264 falls, 2523 (12.5%) included OAs. Compared to non-OAs, the rate of any lower extremity fracture was higher for OAs (51.5% vs. 30.7%, p < 0.001). This remained true for lower extremity fractures at all locations (all p < 0.05). After adjusting for sex and age, associated risk for any lower extremity fracture (OR 2.41, CI 2.22-2.63, p < 0.001) and severe lower extremity fracture (OR 1.31, CI 1.15-1.49, p < 0.001) was higher for OAs. This remained true in subset analyses of ground level falls (GLF) and falls from height (FFH) (all p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Obesity significantly impacts adolescents' risk of all types of lower extremity fractures after FFH or GLF. Hence, providers should have heightened awareness for possible lower extremity fractures in OAs.
Level Of Evidence:
IV.
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