Geriatric fractures about the hip: divergent patterns in the proximal femur, acetabulum, and pelvis

Geriatric acetabular, pelvis, and subtrochanteric femur fractures are poorly understood and rapidly growing clinical problems. The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiologic trends of these injuries as compared with traditional fragility fractures about the hip. From 1993 to 2010, the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) recorded more than 600 million Medicare-paid hospital discharges. This retrospective study used the NIS to compare patients with acetabular fractures (n=87,771), pelvic fractures (n=522,831), and subtrochanteric fractures (n=170,872) with patients with traditional hip fractures (intertrochanteric and femoral neck, n=3,495,742) with regard to annual trends over an 18-year period in incidence, length of hospital stay, hospital mortality, transfers from acute care institutions, and hospital charges. Traditional hip fractures peaked in 1996 and declined by 25.7% by 2010. During the same 18-year period, geriatric acetabular fractures increased by 67%, subtrochanteric femur fractures increased by 42%, and pelvic fractures increased by 24%. Hospital charges, when controlling for inflation, increased roughly 50% for all fracture types. Furthermore, transfers from outside acute care hospitals for definitive management stayed elevated for acetabular fractures as compared with traditional hip fractures, suggesting a greater need for tertiary care of acetabular fractures. Geriatric acetabular fractures are rapidly increasing, whereas traditional hip fractures continue to decline. Patients with these injuries are more likely to be transferred from their hospital of presentation to another acute care institution, possibly increasing costs and complications. This is likely related to their complexity and the lack of consensus regarding optimal management.