Table 1.
Characteristics of patients who were treated at UC San Diego after sustaining musculoskeletal injuries at the border between the USA and Mexico from 2013–2019
| All patients (n = 168) |
Operative care (n = 115) |
Non-operative care (n = 53) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (SD) | 33.0 (9.7) | 32.9 (9.8) | 33.1 (9.4) |
| Gender, % Female | 25.6 | 24.3 | 28.3 |
| Ethnicity, % | |||
| Hispanic | 84.5 | 84.4 | 84.9 |
| Non-Hispanic | 14.3 | 14.7 | 13.2 |
| Unknown | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Race, % | |||
| Unknown/no record | 4.8 | 6.1 | 1.9 |
| Other | 81.5 | 82.6 | 79.3 |
| White | 10.1 | 8.7 | 13.2 |
| Asian | 3.6 | 2.6 | 5.7 |
| Primary language, % | |||
| Chinese | 0.6 | 0.9 | – |
| English | 9.5 | 7.8 | 13.2 |
| Guajarati | 0.6 | 0.9 | – |
| Hindi | 1.8 | 2.6 | – |
| Mandarin | 2.4 | 1.7 | 3.8 |
| Other | 2.4 | 1.7 | 3.8 |
| Punjabi | 2.4 | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| Russian | 0.6 | – | 1.9 |
| Spanish | 78.6 | 80.0 | 75.5 |
| Unknown | 1.2 | 1.7 | – |
| Injury severity score, mean (SD) | 9.0 (6.5) | 8.5 (5.4) | 10.2 (8.3) |
| Abbreviated Injury Scale, mean (SD) | |||
| Head/neck | 2.5 (1.0) | 2.3 (0.6) | 2.7 (1.2) |
| Face | 1.8 (0.7) | 1.7 (0.2) | 1.8 (0.4) |
| Chest | 2.4 (0.7) | 2.5 (0.8) | 2.3 (0.6) |
| Abdomen/pelvis | 2.5 (0.6) | 2.7 (0.6) | 2.3 (0.6) |
| Extremities | 2.3 (1.0) | 2.4 (1.1) | 1.9 (0.6) |
| External | 1.0 (0.3) | 1.1 (0.3) | 1.1 (0.3) |
| Number of injuries, mean (SD) | 1.5 (0.8) | 1.5 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.6) |
| Multiple injuries, % | |||
| Bilateral | 14.9 | 18.3 | 7.5 |
| Unilateral | 8.3 | 9.6 | 5.7 |
| Number of injuries, % | |||
| One | 65.5 | 63.5 | 69.8 |
| Two | 32.2 | 23.5 | 22.6 |
| Three | 10.7 | 12.2 | 7.5 |
| > Three | 0.6 | 0.9 | – |