1. To describe the epidemiology of metacarpal shaft fractures (MSF) in adults. 2. To evaluate the variation in practice and document complications following usual care. 3. To explore factors associated with treatment modality. 4. To document hospital resource use following MSF. A multi-centre, retrospective, cross-sectional study of MSF at six centres. The healthcare records, operative notes and imaging of adults presenting within 10 days of a MSF, affecting the second to fifth metacarpal between 1st August 2016 to 31st July 2017, were reviewed. Total number of Emergency Department (ED) attendances were used to calculate prevalence. Data analyses are primarily descriptive with 95% confidence intervals to quantify uncertainty in estimates.Abstract
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