Pediatric obesity and traumatic lower-extremity long-bone fracture outcomes.

Background: Pediatric obesity is associated with lower-extremity injuries and poor outcomes after blunt trauma. Our aim was to determine if obese pediatric patients with femur and tibia fractures have more severe injury patterns and worse outcomes compared with those of nonobese patients.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of obese and nonobese pediatric patients with femur or tibia fractures treated at two Level I trauma centers from 2004 to 2010.