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)	0.258^b
Sex	Male	17 (85.0)	39 (90.7)	56 (88.9)	0.669^a
	Female	3 (15.0)	4 (9.3)	7 (11.1)
Mechanism	MVC	16 (80.0)	41 (95.3)	57 (90.5)	0.075^a
	Fall	4 (20.0)	2 (4.7)	6 (9.5)
Seat belt	Yes	11 (73.3)	27 (79.4)	38 (77.6)	0.716^a
	No	4 (26.7)	7 (20.6)	11 (22.4)
Displacement	Yes	7 (35.0)	21 (48.8)	28 (44.4)	0.415^a
	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)	0.678^b
GCS	Mean (StDev)	15.00 (0.0)	14.30 (2.6)	14.52 (2.2)	0.230^b
ISS	Mean (StDev)	4.27 (0.5)	14.98 (11.8)	12.05 (11.1)	≤0.001^b
ECG	Normal	7 (53.8)	20 (66.7)	27 (62.8)	0.502^a
	Abnormal	6 (46.2)	10 (33.3)	16 (37.2)
Troponin	Normal	19 (100.0)	29 (82.9)	48 (88.9)	0.080^a
	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)	0.013^b
Hospital admission	Yes	15 (75.0)	41 (95.3)	56 (88.9)	0.028^a
	No	5 (25.0)	2 (4.7)	7 (11.1)

^a: Fisher’s exact test; ^b: Mann–Whitney test; Stdev: standard deviation. MVC: motor vehicle collisions.