[Prognosis and outcomes of hip fractures]

In elderly patients with fractures, local complications at fracture sites of are relatively infrequent, whereas systemic complications commonly occur. There is a marked difference in anatomical features between femoral neck fractures and trochanteric fractures; neck fractures is an intracapsular fracture while trochanteric fractures are extracapsular fractures. In patients with a femoral neck fracture, bone strength at the site may diminish, leading to a compression crush of the bone, usually at least 1 year after the fracture. A survey performed in 10,992 Japanese patients with hip fractures has shown that 51% of these patients had been normal in daily living activities before suffering a fracture and this percentage decreased by 24% 1 year after the fracture. Mortality within 1 year after the fracture was 10%. The following prognostic predictive factors showed significant differences: dementia, pre-injury ambulatory capability, age, baseline serum albumin, baseline total protein, and baseline hemoglobin.