Pattern of Congenital Hand Anomalies in the Paediatric Surgical and Orthopaedic Out-Patient Clinics of a Tertiary Center in South-South Nigeria: A 5-Year Prospective Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/tnhj.v22i1.567Keywords:
Limb anomalies, congenital limbs, pediatric limb anomalies, polydactyly, syndactylyAbstract
Background: Congenital hand anomalies are a wide array of congenital anomalies of poorly understood etiologies mostly affecting the fingers. They constitute 10% of all congenital anomalies seen in children. Emotional worries and the attendant resort to wrong treatment options could arise from poor parental counselling.
Aim: To present the pattern of congenital hand anomalies in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) over a five-year period.
Methods: Patients presenting with congenital limb anomalies to UPTH, from January 2015 to December 2019 were consecutively sampled.
Associations between the anomaly and demographic characteristics were analyzed with Chi-square and Fisher's exact test as appropriate. P < 0.05 was termed statistically significant.
Results: Fifty-two hand anomalies in 27 patients were studied over the 5-year period. The total number of pediatric surgical consultations from both clinics within the same period was 562 giving a prevalence of 9.3%. Polydactyly was the most common congenital hand anomaly (23%, n=12) followed closely by syndactyly (19.2%, n=10). The association between the identified anomalies and the gender of patients was not statistically significant (P = 0.07).
Conclusion: Congenital limb anomalies are fairly common in the study population. Data available for this study may create the needed platform for proper discussions between parents and surgeons on expected treatment endpoints which may improve acceptance of available treatment options and reduce delays in presentation.
Key Words: Limb anomalies, congenital limbs, pediatric limb anomalies, polydactyly, syndactyly
Downloads
References
Solanke TF. Our surgical heritage. Ninth Sir Samuel Manuwa Memorial Lecture presented at: West African College of Surgeons January 24, 1996 Lagos, Nigeria.
Watson S. The principles of management of congenital anomalies of the upper limb. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2000; 83:10-17.
Swanson AB, Swanson GD, Tada K. A classification for congenital limb malformation. J Hand Surg 1983; 8:693–703.
Buck-Gramcko Ded (1998) congenital malformations of the hand and forearm. (Churchill Livingstone, London
Saffar P, Amadio PC, Foucher G, Ogino T (1997) Current classification of congenital hand deformities based on experimental research. In Current practice in hand surgery. eds Saffar P, Amadio PC, Foucher G (Martin Dunitz, London, UK)
Ikechukwu HU, Ofonime NU, Kofoworola O, ASukwo DE. Influence of cultural and traditionl beliefs on maternal and child health practices in rural and urban communities in Cross Rivers state, Ngeria. Ann Res Pract 2020; 1:4.
Ajao AE, Adeoye IA. Prevalence, risk factors and outcome of congenital anomalies among neonatal admissions in Ogbomosho, Nigeria. BMC Pediatr 2019; 19:88.
Michael AI, Ademola SA, Olawoye OA, Iyun AO, Oluwatosin OM. Pattern of congenital hand anomalies at a tertiary plastic surgery service in South-Western Nigeria: A 10-year, cross-sectional retrospective review. Niger Postgrad Med J 2020; 27:237-41
Mba UC, Ogbonnaya IS, Onah II. Analysis of congenital hand anomalies at a Specialist Hospital in a developing Country. Internet J Hand Surg 2018; 8:1-10.
Ekemenye OP, Ikechukwu OC. Profile of congenital digital anomalies in children seen in two tertiary health facilities in Southern Nigeria. Int Surg J 2020; 7:966-9.
Goldfarb CA, Wall LB, Bohn DC, Moen P, van Heest AE. Epidemiology of congenital upper limb anomalies in a Midwest United States population: An assessment using the Oberg, Manske and Tonkin Classification. J Hand Surg Am 2015; 40:127-32.
Bowe J, Conway H. Congenital deformities of the hands. Plast Reconstr Surg (1946) 1956; 18:286-90.
Giele H, Giele C, Bower C, Allison M. The incidence and epidemiology of congenital upper limb anomalies: A total population study. J Hand Surg Am 2001;26: 628-34.
Ekblom AG, Laurell T, Arner M. Epidemiology of congenital upper limb anomalies in 562 children born in 1997 to 2007: A total population study from Stockholm, Sweden. J Hand Surg Am 2010; 35:1742-54.
Dao KD, Shin AY, Billings A, Oberg KC, Wood VE. Surgical treatment of congenital syndactyly of the hand. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2004; 12:39-48.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 The Nigerian Health Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Journal is owned, published and copyrighted by the Nigerian Medical Association, River state Branch. The copyright of papers published are vested in the journal and the publisher. In line with our open access policy and the Creative Commons Attribution License policy authors are allowed to share their work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
TNHJ also supports open access archiving of articles published in the journal after three months of publication. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g, in institutional repositories or on their website) within the stated period, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). All requests for permission for open access archiving outside this period should be sent to the editor via email to editor@tnhjph.com.
