Epidemiology of mandibular condylar fractures in Yaoundé: A 10-year overview

Mandibular condyle fractures are fractures of the non-dentate part of the mandible involving the condylar process. They are of varying aetiologies and can be associated with pre-tragic pain, limited mouth opening and facial asymmetry. Better understanding the epidemiology and varying aetiologies can aid propose policies to reduce their incidence. A descriptive retrospective study was conducted over a 10-year period from January 2015 to December 2024 at the Yaoundé Central Hospital and the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. The information that was recorded comprised age, gender, religion, occupation, education level, place of residence, location of the trauma, day and time of occurrence and aetiologies. Out of the 1,429 study participants with maxillofacial trauma, including 341 participants with mandibular fractures, we retained 55 participants with mandibular condylar fractures. We observed a male predominance with 47males (85.5 %) with a sex ratio of 5.9. In our study the mean age was 31.6 ± 11.1 years and the most represented age group was the third decade (34.5%) with the second decade and participants over 50 being the least represented (10.9%). Also, 96.4% of our study participants were transported to the hospital using non-medical means of transport. Trauma mostly occurred in urban areas (73%), during daytime hours (69%) and on weekdays (73%). Finally, the most common aetiology was road traffic accidents (94.6%) and mostly associated with two-wheeled vehicles. Males were the more represented gender with mandibular condylar fractures; the third decade was the most represented age group and the most common cause mandibular condyle fractures was road traffic accidents with two-wheeled vehicles being the most involved type of vehicle.