Statistical Analysis of the Polydactyly and Syndactyly by National Health Insurance Corporation Data

Abstract

The feature of congenitial hand anomalies is multiple and complex. Polydactyly and syndactyly is one of the most common congenital anomalies of the upper limb. The statistical analysis of these anomaly is the basic study of congenital hand anomalies. However, the number of reports is small. The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze objective data and make a nation-wide statistical report on polydactyly and syndactyly. We used data from the National Health Insurance Corporation for reviewing polydactyly and syndactyly. We reviewed 3 years of data from 1998 to 2000 focusing on age, the number of operations, male to female ratio, the duration of hospital care and cost. The number of operations for polydactyly was 694 cases and for syndactyly was 574 cases. Therefore we may assume that polydactyly occurs 1:910 births and syndactyly occurs 1:1101 births. The duration of hospital care for polydactyly was 12 days and for syndactyly was 17 days. The full cost for the correction of polydactyly was 770,000 won and syndactyly was 1,220,000 won. The ratio of polydcatyly and syndactyly was 1.12:1. The operation for polydactyly and syndactyly was performed between the age of 1 and 2 in most cases. Male to female ratio of polydactyly was 1.14 :1 and syndactyly was 1.39:1. This study will be helpful to find appropriate treatment for congenital hand anomalies.