First-year mortality and long-term results of hemiarthroplasty for hip fractures in the elderly

Abstract

Hip fractures are injuries that affect not only the joint in an elderly person, but also the patient's survival. The aim of this study was to asses hemiathroplasty as a treatment for these lesions and their complications; mortality within the first year after fracture was assessed and functional results were compared with the previous conditions.

Between 1 January 1995 and 31 May 2001, we treated 29 patients who suffered hip fracture (2 bilateral). The average age was 80.7 years. The mean follow-up was 23 months. We obtained information by a telephone interview. We compared independence in daily activities before and after fracture. Moreover we examined the social surroundings in which the patients lived, before and after the fracture. Of the 24 patients available for follow-up, 4 (16.7%) had clinical and surgical complications. Mortality within the first year after fracture was 24.1% (7 patients). With respect to functional results, 47.4% of patients reached a score between 26 and 54 points (fair) in postoperative time. Furthermore, the percentage of patients who needed to live in geriatric institutions after the fracture increased from 15.8% to 42.1%. We consider hemiarthroplasty to be a treatment which has a lot of advantages, since it allows the immediate return to daily activities and avoids bedrest complications. However we believe that medical society has to advance more in prevention and care of this group of patients due to the high mortality within the first year after fracture, which causes them to lose independence in daily life and to become dependant on third-party assistance.