Incidence of primary patellar dislocation in Colombia

Introduction and objectives

Primary acute patellar dislocations (PAPD) account for 3% of all traumatic knee lesions, and several studies have estimated the general incidence of patellar dislocation to be between 2 and 77.4 per 100,000 person-years. Few studies have evaluated the incidence of primary lateral patellar dislocation in Latin America. The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of patellar dislocation in patients from a reference center in the Colombian southwest, report trends in the incidence of dislocation, and describe the rate of surgical treatment.

Materials and methods

We performed an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study including all patients older than 9 years old with primary lateral patellar dislocation (PLPD), between January 2011 and June 2018, in a tertiary care center in Latin America.

Results

In our population, the incidence of primary lateral patellar dislocation (PLPD) was 32.38 per 100,000 person-years. The age group between 14 and 18 years old had the highest incidence (187.74 per 100.000). In the 10 to 13-year-old group, females had a significantly higher incidence (179.05 vs 59.85 /100,000, p-value < 0.001).

Conclusions

With an incidence of 32.38 per 100,000 person- years, primary patellar dislocation is a frequent orthopaedic injury in our population. The peak incidence by age group was in adolescents between 14 to 18 years old.