Paediatric major lower limb absence: demographics of children accessing three prosthetic rehabilitation centres in Cambodia
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background:
Demographic and clinical characteristic data for children with major lower limb absence provide insight for rehabilitation professionals and policy makers. This paper describes demographics for children accessing 3 prosthetic rehabilitation centers in Cambodia. It is hypothesized that associations exist between the demographic data and reason for limb absence and time to first prosthetic access.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis of 71 physical casefiles was conducted for children aged 5–17 years in 3 centers affiliated with Exceed Worldwide and the Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics Cambodia between 2005 and 2023. Demographic data were extracted for children with major lower limb absence proximal to the ankle joint. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied with the significance level set at (p < 0.05).
Results:
Most children were male (67.6%) and 55.3% of prostheses provided were for transtibial. The most common cause was trauma (59.2%) primarily because of road traffic accidents (71.4%). There was a significant association between reason for limb absence with sex (p = 0.004) and time to prosthetic access (p = 0.011). Reason for limb absence (p = 0.016) and age of acquired limb absence (p = 0.003) were significantly associated with the type of prosthesis supplied.
Conclusions:
Traumatic amputation was the most common, with more males and transfemoral children presenting with trauma than expected, necessitating further research into policies to reduce traumatic amputation and its subsequent proximal amputations. Time to first access was greater for congenital deficiencies necessitating future work to support early prosthetic use. The dataset provides clarity on a unique cohort requiring ongoing prosthetic care.
Demographic and clinical characteristic data for children with major lower limb absence provide insight for rehabilitation professionals and policy makers. This paper describes demographics for children accessing 3 prosthetic rehabilitation centers in Cambodia. It is hypothesized that associations exist between the demographic data and reason for limb absence and time to first prosthetic access.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis of 71 physical casefiles was conducted for children aged 5–17 years in 3 centers affiliated with Exceed Worldwide and the Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics Cambodia between 2005 and 2023. Demographic data were extracted for children with major lower limb absence proximal to the ankle joint. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied with the significance level set at (p < 0.05).
Results:
Most children were male (67.6%) and 55.3% of prostheses provided were for transtibial. The most common cause was trauma (59.2%) primarily because of road traffic accidents (71.4%). There was a significant association between reason for limb absence with sex (p = 0.004) and time to prosthetic access (p = 0.011). Reason for limb absence (p = 0.016) and age of acquired limb absence (p = 0.003) were significantly associated with the type of prosthesis supplied.
Conclusions:
Traumatic amputation was the most common, with more males and transfemoral children presenting with trauma than expected, necessitating further research into policies to reduce traumatic amputation and its subsequent proximal amputations. Time to first access was greater for congenital deficiencies necessitating future work to support early prosthetic use. The dataset provides clarity on a unique cohort requiring ongoing prosthetic care.
Date Issued
2026-02-17
Date Acceptance
2025-12-16
Citation
Prosthetics and Orthotics International, 2026
ISSN
0309-3646
Publisher
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
Journal / Book Title
Prosthetics and Orthotics International
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2026 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer incorporated on behalf of The International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CCBY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited..
License URL
Identifier
10.1097/PXR.0000000000000517
Subjects
pediatric
limb absence
demographics
Cambodia
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2026-02-17