Research published today in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, British Volume demonstrates for the first time a link between the incidence of fractures in adolescents and social deprivation. The study made use of the Scottish Fracture database from 2000 and combined this with census data from 2001 and used regression analysis to ascertain the relationship between the incidence of fractures and social deprivation.

Previously, fractures in adolescents have not been analysed seperately and they have been grouped by age into either adult or paediatric categories. This research shows that adolescents are in fact a very distinct group from the other two categories, most strikingly because the predominance of fractures occurred in males rather than females. For example, '13-year old boys have the highest age-related incidence of fractures...only slightly less than the figures...in women aged 90 years or older'.

All of the fractures in the analysis related to social deprivation, occurred in the upper limb and only junior adolescent females showed no significant relationship between social deprivation and incidence of fracture. Specifically, 'Males of 15 to 20 years of age were more likely to sustain fractures of the hand and carpus if they lived in economically deprived neighbourhoods'.

Therefore, the authors suggest that 'the mode of injury is the main causative factor in the relationship between social deprivation and fracture' and that while more affluent adolescents obtained their injuries from sporting activities, socially deprived patients suffered from assaults or direct blows.

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The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery - British Volume