Demographic characteristics of patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction at a tertiary care hospital in India

BACKGROUNDAnterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are common sports-related injuries. Their incidence is not the same either for all the sports or for the same sport across various nations. This information is maintained by many sports leagues in their registries. However, very few nationwide registries exist for such injuries. This study is carried out to know the demographic characteristics of patients who underwent ACL reconstruction at our hospital in India.AIMTo know the demographic characteristics of patients who underwent ACL reconstruction at a tertiary care hospital in India.METHODSAll the patients who underwent ACL reconstruction from January 2020 to December 2021 were retrospectively studied. Patients with multi-ligament injuries or a history of previous knee surgery were excluded. The patients' history was obtained from the hospital records, they were interviewed telephonically, and online questionnaires were given. Their demographic data was analyzed and compared to the existing literature.RESULTSA total of 124 patients were operated on for ACL reconstruction during this period. The mean age of the patients was 27.97 years. One hundred and thirteen patients (91.1%) were male and 11 (8.9%) were female. The majority of the patients (47.6%) sustained this injury by road traffic accidents (RTA) followed by sports-related injuries (39.5%). The commonest presenting complaint was giving way of the knee in 118 patients (95.2%). The mean duration from the injury to the first hospital visit among the patients was 290.1 d. The mean duration from the injury to surgery was 421.8 d.CONCLUSIONACL patients' demography is different in developing nations as compared to the developed world. RTA are the leading cause of ACL injuries and are followed by recreational sports as a cause. There is delayed access to healthcare leading to delayed diagnosis as well as even greater time to surgery. This, in turn, leads to poorer prognosis and longer rehabilitation. National registries for developing nations are the need of the hour due to the different demographics of ACL injuries in developing countries.

Automated summary

The study aimed to investigate the demographic characteristics of patients who underwent ACL reconstruction at a tertiary care hospital in India. A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who underwent ACL reconstruction between January 2020 and December 2021. The results showed that out of 124 patients, the majority were males (91.1%) and the most common cause of ACL injuries was road traffic accidents (47.6%). The study highlights the need for national registries in developing countries to understand the unique demographics of ACL injuries.