[Clinico-epidemiological and therapeutic aspects of patients with hip fracture]

The purpose of this study is to characterize the clinico-epidemiologic variables of patients with hip fracture and assess the presence of complications, whether dependent or independent of performing surgery within 48 hours of the fracture.

A descriptive applied cross-sectional study of patients who underwent hip surgery was performed. Five hundred patients were included; females were predominant as they accounted for 68% (339); mean age was 75.5 years. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were the most frequent conditions. Pertrochanteric fractures represented 56% (257) and were predominant.

Mean operative time was 1.2 hours; and partial hip prosthesis accounted for 25.6% (128) and was the most common surgery performed, followed by plate osteosynthesis, which accounted for 25.4% (127) of the 457 procedures performed. The complication rate was 17%, with bronchopneumonia (2%) as the most frequent one; reoperation was the most frequent surgical complication (7.4%). Mean waiting time before surgery ranged from 72 hours to 14 days (73.2%) and mean hospital stay ranged between 7 and 15 days (37%).

The highest incidence of fractures occurs in females over age 75. The most frequent fracture is the pertrochanteric one, with a high incidence of chronic-degenerative conditions that results in increased postoperative complications when surgical treatment is provided after 48 hours.