Hip fracture in stroke patients. Epidemiology and rehabilitation

With the purpose of identifying specific features in aged hemiplegic patients, 818 cases referred to a geriatric-rehabilitation hospital after hip fracture were studied. In 66 cases a cerebro-vascular accident had preceded the fracture, which was ipsilateral in 52 cases. No differences were found in incidence of concurrent disease, hospitalization time, mortality and functional recovery between hip fracture patients with and without a history of stroke, except that an interval of less than a week between stroke and fracture was associated with poor functional recovery. We conclude that rehabilitation of the stroke patient with hip fracture is worthwhile.