Epidemiology of slipped capital femoral epiphysis in a population with a high proportion of New Zealand Maori and Pacific children.

AIM: To describe the epidemiology of slipped capital femoral epiphysis in NZ Maori and Pacific children residing in Auckland compared with NZ European children.

METHODS

The charts and radiographs of 211 children admitted with 307 slipped capital femoral epiphyses to Starship Children's Hospital between 1988 and 2000 were reviewed.

RESULTS

The average age at first presentation was 132.6 +/-16.7 months in girls (range 95 to 170 months) and 149.5 +/- 19.3 months in boys (range 99 to 190 months), p <0.05. The age at presentation was not statistically different between the three ethnic groups. One hundred and seventy one children (81%) presented with a unilateral slipped capital femoral epiphysis. Forty children presented with bilateral simultaneous slipped capital femoral epiphyses; however, after two years of follow up, a further 56 children had been readmitted for pinning of the opposite hip, giving an overall rate of bilateral hip pinning of 45.5%. The relative racial frequency of slipped capital femoral epiphysis in the New Zealand Maori and the Pacific population was 4.2 times and 5.6 times the New Zealand European population, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Children as young as eight years are now presenting with slipped capital femoral epiphyses. General practitioners should be aware of the possibility of this diagnosis, particularly in children of NZ Maori or Pacific ethnicity.