Hip fractures in a tropical teaching hospital

The pattern of hip fractures, treatment, outcome of treatment, and complications of forty-four consecutive patients treated over a five-year period were retrospectively studied. This represents 3.5% of the hospitalised patients in orthopaedic services. The male:female ratio was 1:1.3. Seventy percent of the fractures occurred in those over 65 years of age. The fractures were the result of low energy trauma in 81.8% of patients. Intracapsular (cervical) fractures accounted for 79.5% of the total cases. Only two patients had associated injuries on admission. Austin Moore hemiarthroplasty was the choice of hip replacement for intracapsular fractures, while ORIF (Open reduction and internal fixation using fixed angle blade plate) was done for patients with (extracapsular) trochanteric fractures. Anaesthesia (general or regional) was uneventful. Non-fatal pulmonary embolism occurred in one patient post-hemiarthroplasty while in the hospital. This study shows that hip fractures are not uncommon in our environment although far less common than what obtains in the Caucasians.