Objective To compare the epidemiological characteristics of adult single fractures of the cuneiform between the east and west areas in China from 2010 through 2011.Methods Thirty-five hospitals in the east coast area (group A) and 28 hospitals in the west inland area (group B) were selected for this investigation. The data of adult single fracture of the cuneiform treated between January 2010 and De-cember 2011 at the 63 hospitals were collected through the PACS system and medical records inquiry system. The epidemiological characteristics concerning age, gender and fracture classification were compared between the 2 groups. Results A total of 457 adult single fractures of the cuneiform were collected, involving 384 cases in group A and 73 cases in group B. They accounted respectively for 4.38% (384/8,772) and 3.53% (73/2, 068) of the adult tarsal bone fractures in the same period, showing no significant difference (P >0.05), accounted respectively for 1.71% (384/22, 455) and 1.15% (73/6, 354) of the adult foot frac-tures, showing a significant difference (P <0.05), and accounted respectively for 0.20% (384/192,991) and 0.09% (73/81, 143) of all the adult fractures, showing a significant difference (P <0.05). The median age was 39 years in group A (29, 50) and 36 years in group B (25, 45), showing a significant difference (P <0.05). The male to female ratio was 1.61:1 (237/147) for group A and 1.52:1 (44/29) for group B. The peak age range of the fracture for males was from 21 to 30 years old in both groups, and its proportion was 28.69% (68/237) in group A and 38.64% (17/44) in group B. The peak age range of the fracture for females was from 41 to 50 years old in both groups, and its proportion was 26.53% (39/147)in group A and 27.59% (8/29) in group B. All the above comparisons were statistically insignificant (P> 0.05). The proportion of the age group of≥61 years was significantly larger in group A than in group B (P <0.05). The high risk type of the fracture was type 85-A1 in both groups, and its proportion was 61.98% (238/384) in group A and 52.05% (38/73) in group B. The proportion of type 85-B1 was significantly larger in group B than in group A (P <0.05). Conclusions Adult single fractures of the cuneiform were more common in young and male patients. The proportion of elderly patients (≥61 years old) was significantly larger in the east area. The high risk type of the fracture was simple fracture involving the medial cuneiform bone (type 85-A) in both areas. The proportion of the comminuted fracture of the medial cuneiform (type 85-B1) was significantly larger in the west area.

Objective To analyze and compare epidemiological characteristics of adult single metatarsal fractures between the east and west areas in China from 2010 through 2011.Methods Thirty-five hospitals in the east area (group A) and 28 hospitals in the west area (group B) participated in this epidemiological investigation of adult single metatarsal fractures treated from January 2010 through December 2011.Data concerning gender,age and fracture location and type were documented and compared between groups A and group B.Results There were 4,779 fractures in group A and 1,708 in group B,accounting for 21.28％ (4,779/22,455) and 26.88％ (1,708/6,354) of the adult foot fractures,and 2.48％ (4,779/192,991) and 2.10％ (1,708/81,143) of all the adult fractures,respectively,showing significant differences between the 2 groups (P ＜ 0.05).The ratio of male to female was 1.21:1 in group A and 1.48:1 in group B,showing a significant difference (x2 =11.768,P =0.001).The median age of group A (43 years) was significantly older than that of group B (40 years) (Z =-6.275,P ＜ 0.001).The proportions of the patients aged from 21 to 30 years (19.02％) and of those aged from 31 to 40 years (18.62％) in group A were significantly lower than those in group B (22.66％ and 21.60％),but the proportion of the patients aged from 51 to 60 years in group A (21.09％) was significantly higher than that in group B (14.64 ％) (P ＜ 0.05).The proportions of type 87-A (40.18％) and type 87-C (5.52％) in group A were significantly lower than those in group B (44.38％ and 8.20％),but the proportion of type 87-B in group A (54.30％) was significantly higher than that in group B (47.42％) (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the distribution of fracture locations (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The most common single metatarsal fracture was that of the fifth metatarsal bone and the fractures of proximal metatarsal bone accounted for the largest proportion in both the cast and west areas.The west area had higher proportions of male patients and single metatarsal fracture than the east area.