The incidence and risk of hip fracture in Poland

This study determined the incidence and probability of hip fractures in Poland based on verified hospital discharge notes from all of Poland. In the over-50-year-old population, hip fracture incidence was found to be 89/100,000 for men and 156/100,000 for women. Poland is among the countries with the lowest hip fracture risk in Europe.

It is recommended that intervention thresholds should be based on an assessment of absolute fracture risk. Probability of hip fracture is calculated from the incidence of hip fracture in a given population and the incidence of death. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and the absolute risk of hip fracture for men and women in Poland.

The study was based on National Health Fund data from all of Poland for the year 2005. Hospital discharge notes reporting an incident fracture were identified from among all those containing a matching ICD code. Lifetime and 10-year fracture probabilities were calculated taking into account the mortality risk and BMD.

In 2005, there were 17,625 hip fractures diagnosed in Poland which was 30.2% less than the number of hospital discharge notes containing such a diagnosis in that year. In the over-50-year-old population, hip fracture incidence was found to be 89/100,000 for men and 165/100,000 for women. In the 50-65-year band, hip fracture incidence was higher in men than in women. The remaining lifetime probability of hip fracture at the age of 50 years was 2.0% for men and 4.5% for women which are among the lowest in Europe.

Hip fracture incidence and thus the probability of hip fracture risk in Poland is amongst the lowest in Europe. The authors recommend establishing a standard method for determining hip fracture incidence in a given country in order to standardize data.