Cross sectional Study of Club Foot at Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background:  Club foot is the most common congenital deformity of the foot. It causes severe disability resulting in difficulty to walk. Certain epidemiological and environmental factors have influenced the etiology and treatment of club foot deformity. This study was designed to observe these factors and compare them with similar series reported in orthopedic literature.

Study Design:  Cross sectional.

Sample Size:  There were 104 patients with 168 club feet.

Targeted Population:  All the patients with club foot deformity presented in out patients Department of Orthopedics Surgery and Traumatology Unit-I, King Edward Medical University/ Mayo Hospital Lahore were included in this study.

Results:  The average age of patients was 6.24 ± 1.32 weeks with male to female ratio (2.46 : 1). Seventy-three patients (70.19%) presented through spontaneous vertex delivery, 14 (13.46%) required caesarean section and 14 (13.46%) required episiotomy to facilitate their births. According to seniority order 48 (46.15%) were first, 12 (11.53%) were second, 17 (16.34%) were third, 7 (6.73%) were fourth, 14 (13.46%) were sixth, 5 (4.80%) were seventh and 1 (0.96%) was fifteenth baby of the family that is a rare birth order with club foot which is hard to find previously published literature. The pro-portion of club foot was significantly higher in first baby (p-value = 0.000 0 < 0.0001). Congenital anomalies associated with club foot had a wide variation of expressions. Most of them are related to connective tissue abnormalities responsible for club foot deformity.

Conclusion:  According to this study club foot is more common in males having low socioeconomic status. Positive family history in a case of club foot deformity is of great value as it has its genetic implications. Crowding phenomena plays a defi-nitive role in the etiology as incidence of club foot deformity is significantly high in first born babies. Mode of delivery and maturity were found insignificant in this study.

Key Words:  Epidemiology of Club foot.