Research Article
Management of Blunt Sternal Fractures in a Community-Based Hospital
Table 3
Comparison between patients with an isolated sternal fracture and those with other concomitant injuries in terms of different variables.
| Variables | Isolated sternal fracture | Multiple injuries | Total | value |
| Age | Mean (StDev) | 37.55 (16.9) | 40.91 (14.9) | 39.84 (15.5) | 0.258b |
| Sex | Male | 17 (85.0) | 39 (90.7) | 56 (88.9) | 0.669a | Female | 3 (15.0) | 4 (9.3) | 7 (11.1) |
| Mechanism | MVC | 16 (80.0) | 41 (95.3) | 57 (90.5) | 0.075a | Fall | 4 (20.0) | 2 (4.7) | 6 (9.5) |
| Seat belt | Yes | 11 (73.3) | 27 (79.4) | 38 (77.6) | 0.716a | No | 4 (26.7) | 7 (20.6) | 11 (22.4) |
| Displacement | Yes | 7 (35.0) | 21 (48.8) | 28 (44.4) | 0.415a | No | 13 (65.0) | 22 (51.2) | 35 (55.6) |
| Displacement (mm) | Mean (StDev) | 1.29 (0.5) | 2.19 (2.4) | 1.96 (2.2) | 0.678b |
| GCS | Mean (StDev) | 15.00 (0.0) | 14.30 (2.6) | 14.52 (2.2) | 0.230b |
| ISS | Mean (StDev) | 4.27 (0.5) | 14.98 (11.8) | 12.05 (11.1) | ≤0.001b |
| ECG | Normal | 7 (53.8) | 20 (66.7) | 27 (62.8) | 0.502a | Abnormal | 6 (46.2) | 10 (33.3) | 16 (37.2) |
| Troponin | Normal | 19 (100.0) | 29 (82.9) | 48 (88.9) | 0.080a | High | 0 (0.0) | 6 (17.1) | 6 (11.1) |
| Hospital stays (days) | Mean (StDev) | 2.35 (1.9) | 26.30 (117.1) | 18.70 (97) | 0.013b |
| Hospital admission | Yes | 15 (75.0) | 41 (95.3) | 56 (88.9) | 0.028a | No | 5 (25.0) | 2 (4.7) | 7 (11.1) |
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a: Fisher’s exact test; b: Mann–Whitney test; Stdev: standard deviation. MVC: motor vehicle collisions.
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