Effect of childhood overweight on distal metaphyseal radius fractures treated by closed reduction

BACKGROUND: The medical community has recognized overweight as an epidemic negatively affecting a large proportion of the pediatric population, but few studies have been performed to investigate the relationship between overweight and failure of conservative treatment for distal radius fractures (DRFs). This study was performed to investigate the effect of overweight on the outcome of conservative treatment for DRFs in children. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of children with closed displaced distal metaphyseal radius fractures in our hospital from January 2015 to May 2020. Closed reduction was initially performed; if closed reduction failed, surgical treatment was performed. Patients were followed up regularly after treatment, and redisplacement was diagnosed on the basis of imaging findings. Potential risk factors for redisplacement were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: In total, 142 children were included in this study. The final reduction procedure failed in 21 patients, all of whom finally underwent surgical treatment. The incidences of failed final reduction and fair reduction were significantly higher in the overweight/obesity group than in the normal-weight group (P = 0.046 and P = 0.041, respectively). During follow-up, 32 (26.4%) patients developed redisplacement after closed reduction and cast immobilization. The three risk factors associated with the incidence of redisplacement were overweight/obesity [odds ratio (OR), 2.149; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.320–3.498], an associated ulnar fracture (OR, 2.127; 95% CI, 1.169–3.870), and a three-point index of ≥ 0.40 (OR, 3.272; 95% CI, 1.975–5.421). CONCLUSIONS: Overweight increases the risk of reduction failure and decreases the reduction effect. Overweight children were two times more likely to develop redisplacement than normal-weight children in the present study. Thus, overweight children may benefit from stricter clinical follow-up and perhaps a lower threshold for surgical intervention.