Influence of optimised treatment of people with hip fracture on time to operation, length of hospital stay, reoperations and mortality within 1 year.
Hip fractures are a major cause of hospital stay among the elderly, and result in increased disability and mortality. In this study from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004, the influence of optimised treatment of hip fracture on time to operation, length of hospital stay, reoperations and mortality within 1 year were investigated. Comparisons were made between the first 210 patients in the period and the last 210 patients, who followed the new clinical pathway introduced at the University Hospital in Lund, Sweden. Early surgery, within 24h, was not associated with reduced mortality, but was significantly associated with reduced length of stay (p<0.001). Significantly more cases of osteosynthesis for femoral neck fracture were reoperated compared with all other types of surgery (p<0.001) when reoperations with extraction of the hook pins in healed fractures were excluded. Mortality was significantly higher among men than women at 4 (p=0.025) and 12 (p=0.001) months after fracture and among medically fit patients with administrative delay to surgery compared with patients with no delay (p<0.001).
Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. Ami.Hommel@med.lu.se
Ami
A
Hommel
Kerstin
K
Ulander
Karin B
KB
Bjorkelund
Per-Ola
PO
Norrman
Hans
H
Wingstrand
Karl-Göran
KG
Thorngren
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019091:Critical Pathways; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000601:surgery; D005592:Fracture Fixation / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D012086:Reoperation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome