PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF FRACTURED PROXIMAL FEMUR - INCIDENCE AND OUTCOME

A prospective study was made of all cases of fractured proximal femur arising in a defined population of persons aged 65 and over in Newcastle upon Tyne. Incidence rates, which were higher than in other United Kingdom studies, showed a broadly exponential increase with age and were higher in women than in men. Comparison with a retrospective study for 1971 showed no evidence of a secular increase in incidence rate. The six month fatality proportion was 40·3% and only one-third of survivors classified themselves as fully mobile at six months from injury. Mean length of hospital stay was 59 days and 82% of patients underwent an operative procedure. There was evidence of a high incidence of proximal femur fractures among persons living in Residential Homes and Psychiatric Hospitals. Two-thirds of the injuries occurred in a domestic setting. There was no evidence of an association with use of barbiturates and comparison with survey data suggests that frequent falls by an elderly person would be a poor predictor of fractures in the community. © 1979 The Society of Community Medicine.