Epidemiology of fractures of the proximal third of the femur in elderly patients ☆

• Autor(a) principal: Daniachi,Daniel
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Santos Netto,Alfredo dos, Ono,Nelson Keiske, Guimarães,Rodrigo Pereira, Polesello,Giancarlo Cavalli, Honda,Emerson Kiyoshi
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-36162015000400371
• topic: Epidemiology; Hip fractures; Elderly people

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE: This was an epidemiological study on fractures of the proximal third of the femur in elderly patients who were treated at a teaching hospital in the central region of São Paulo. METHODS: The subjects were patients over the age of 60 years who were attended over a 1-year period. A questionnaire seeking basic sociodemographic data and information on comorbidities presented and medications used was drawn up. The circumstances of the fractures and their characteristics, the treatment instituted and the intra-hospital mortality rate were evaluated. RESULTS: The 113 patients included in the study presented a mean age of 79 years. The ratio between the sexes was three women to each man. Only 30.4% of the patients reported having osteoporosis and only 0.9% had had treatment for the disease. Low-energy trauma was the cause of 92.9% of the fractures. Femoral neck fractures accounted for 42.5% of the fractures and trochanteric fractures, 57.5%. Five patients did not undergo operations; 39 underwent joint replacement; and 69 underwent osteosynthesis. The mean length of hospital stay was 13.5 days and the mean length of waiting time until surgery was 7 days. The intra-hospital mortality rate was 7.1%. CONCLUSION: The patients attended at this institution presented an epidemiological profile similar to what is found in the Brazilian literature. Chronic kidney failure is a significant factor with regard to intra-hospital mortality. Preventive measures such as early diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and regular physical activity practices were not implemented.