Abstract.
BACKGROUND: The aim was to investigate the maternal and fetal predisposing factors of clavicle fracture locations in newborns.
METHODS: A retrospective evaluation was made of 77 clavicle fractures identified from a total of 33,480 live newborns between September 2016 and September 2018 at a single center in Turkey. Fractures were grouped according to the Allman classification: Group I mid third, Group II lateral distal third, Group III medial proximal third of the clavicle, respectively. Demographic features compared between the groups included maternal age, parity and height and infantile gestational age, gender, birth weight and length. Neonatal clinical features were also compared between the three groups and included mode of delivery, Apgar score, fracture laterality, time to diagnosis, mode of diagnosis, and presence of symptoms of brachial plexus palsy.
RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between the three groups when the demographic characteristics of the mothers and newborns were compared. In terms of clinical characteristics Group 3 contained a higher proportion of patients with symptoms of brachial plexus palsy than Group 1 (61.5% versus 22%, p = 0.017). There was no statistically significant difference between Groups 2 and 3 and Groups 1 and 2.
CONCLUSION: A significant association was found between the occurrence of brachial plexus palsy and fracture of the medial third of the clavicle (Allman type III).