[Twelve-year trends of hip fracture rates in Chile. Is there a relationship between their increase and population aging?].
BACKGROUND
Epidemiology of osteoporosis is assessed measuring bone density or measuring the rates of bone frailty-related fracture rates. Of these, the most important are hip fractures, that markedly increase after 65 years of age.


OBJECTIVE
To measure the incidence of hip fractures in Chile from 1982 to 1993.


METHODS
All hospital discharges that occurred in Chile from 1982 to 1993 were analyzed, looking for the diagnosis of hip fracture. National censuses in the same period were also analyzed searching for possible changes in the age structure of the population. Fracture rates were analyzed for three age groups, and changes along the years were calculated correlating the rates with the number of the year.


RESULTS
In the twelve year period, women aged 55-64 years old had a correlation of 0.32 (NS), women aged 65-74 years old had a correlation of 0.58 (NS) and women aged over 75 years old had a correlation of 0.95 (p < 0.001). This age group corresponded to 2.01% of the whole population in 1982 and to 2.52% in 1993. The mean age of the group increased from 80.7 to 80.9 years in the same lapse.


CONCLUSIONS
Fracture rates increased in the 12 years period studied, specially among women older than 75 years old. During the same period the proportion of people over 75 years old also increased, but there was only a slight increase in its mean age. Thus, the increase in fracture rates is disproportionate to population aging and could be related to changes in lifestyles.
Pumarino
H
H
Departamento de Medicina, Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile José Joaquín Aguirre, Santiago, Chile.
Contreras
L
L
Kirschbaum
A
A
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors