Irritable temperament profile prevails among patients with boxer fractures.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective study was to examine the temperament dimensions of the patients with boxer fracture and compare them with age- and sex-matched controls.

Methods: We performed a prospective analysis investigating affective temperaments of the 102 patients with boxer fractures and compared them with 100 sex- and age-matched controls that were referred to the emergency department due to incidental soft-tissue trauma. Affective temperament of the patients was evaluated by Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego-Auto questionnaire (TEMPS-A). Both incidences of dominant affective temperaments of boxer fracture cases with previously validated normal Turkish population and controls and differences between mean values of temperament scores were analyzed.

Results: The mean age of the patients with boxer fractures was 25.6 (range 17-47) and 27.7 years (range 17-49) for controls. We found that dominant irritable temperament (n = 10; 9.7%) had significantly higher incidence from both control group and normal Turkish population (p < 0.001). In addition, there was significant difference between anxious temperament scores of two groups (p = 0.013).

Conclusion: The understanding of mood of patients with boxer fractures will help us to enhance treatment plan and may prevent further intentional injuries by providing an insight into better controlling physical health of the patients.