Effects of alcohol-related disease on hip fracture and mortality: a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the effect of alcohol-related disease on hip fracture and mortality.


METHODS
A retrospective cohort design was used. The study cohort consisted of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries with alcohol-related disease (n = 150,119) and randomly matched controls without alcohol-related disease (n = 726,218) identified through the 1988-1989 inpatient claims file. Incidence rates of hip fracture and mortality were examined.


RESULTS
During the study period, 20,620 patients developed hip fracture, with 6973 cases among patients with alcohol-related disease and 13,647 cases among patients without alcohol-related disease. After adjustment for potential confounders, patients with alcohol-related disease had a 2.6-fold increased risk of hip fracture relative to patients without alcohol-related disease (95% confidence interval = 2.5, 2.6). Patients with alcohol-related disease had a higher risk of mortality at 1 year after hip fracture.


CONCLUSIONS
Alcohol-related disease increases the risk of hip fracture significantly and reduces long-term survival. The present results suggest that patients hospitalized for alcohol-related disease should be targeted for hip fracture prevention programs.
Yuan
Z
Z
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. yuan@hal.cwru.edu
Dawson
N
N
Cooper
G S
GS
Einstadter
D
D
Cebul
R
R
Rimm
A A
AA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011159:Population Surveillance; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology