[Proximal femoral fractures in the elderly. Analysis of data from health insurance providers on more than 23 million insured persons--part 1].
BACKGROUND
The section of geriatric trauma ("AG-Alterstraumatologie") of the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie" (DGU) and the "Lohmann & Birkner Health Care Consulting GmbH" in co-operation with the health insurance funds (VdAK and AEV) supplied the relevant data of approximately 23 million insured persons from the years 2002 to 2004.


METHODS
All data from patients over the age of 60 staying in hospital because of proximal femur fractures and without further injuries as the main diagnosis were extracted from the available amount of data and then analysed. There were 68,929 (9.5%) cases diagnosed with proximal femur fractures of 724,606 patients treated in hospital.


RESULTS
There was a significant age-dependent increase in incidents of proximal femur fractures with a maximum of 3,000 injuries around the age of 82 years. The surgical treatment of proximal femur fractures was carried out with a joint-preserving stabilising method (osteosynthesis-screws-"DHS"-nailing systems) in 49.5%, with endoprosthesis in 48.6 % as well as other methods in 1.9% of the cases. In comparison to hip replacement care, a shorter hospital stay could be proved with osteosynthetic methods.
Lohmann
R
R
Lohmann & Birkner Health Care Consulting GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
Frerichmann
U
U
Stöckle
U
U
Riegel
T
T
Raschke
M J
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors