A study conducted by researchers in Australia suggests that older persons with hip fracture are more than 3.5 times more likely to die within 12 months of the fracture than their non-injured counterparts.
In addition, they note, the mortality rate is higher in men than in women.
In the study, published in Archives of Osteoporosis, the researchers linked hospital and mortality data from four Australian states. The 9748 individuals aged 65 years and older who had a hospital admission with a primary diagnosis of hip fracture in 2009 were matched 1:1 on age, sex, and postcode of residence with a cohort of non-injured individuals selected from the electoral roll.
Adjusted mortality rate ratios and attributable risk percent were calculated, and Cox proportional hazard regression was used to examine the effect of risk factors on survival, explains a media release from the International Osteoporosis Foundation.
The researchers found that individuals with hip fracture were more than 3.5 times more likely to die within 12 months compared to their non-injured counterparts (mortality rate ratio 3.62 [95%CI 3.23-4.05]).
In addition, they found that hip fracture was likely to be a contributory factor in 72% of mortality within 12 months after the index hospital admission.
Also, they note that excess mortality risk at 12 months was higher in males than in females, and in the 65-74-year age group compared to older age groups, per the release.
“With an aging population in Australia, the burden of hip fractures is expected to increase in the coming decades. Our findings suggest that, with the hip fracture trauma itself a main predictor of excess mortality, efforts may best be directed at primary and secondary prevention of the fracture itself,” shares Dr Reidar P. Lystad from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University and co-author of the study, in the release.
[Source(s): International Osteoporosis Foundation, Science Daily]
