title: Hip fracture and anthropometric variations: dominance among trochanteric soft tissue thickness, body height and body weight during sideways fall.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hip fracture depends on various anthropometric parameters such as trochanteric soft tissue thickness, body height and body weight. The objective was to evaluate the responses to the variations in anthropometric parameters during sideways fall, and to identify the most dominant parameter among them.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven finite element models were developed having anthropometric variations in trochanteric soft tissue thickness (5-26 mm), body height (1.70-1.88 m), and body weight (63-93.37 kg). These were simulated for sideways fall with ANSYS-LS-DYNA® code.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant effect of trochanteric soft tissue thickness variation was found on 'normalized peak impact force with respect to the body weight' (p=0.004, r²=0.808) and strain ratio (p=0.083, r²=0.829). But, variation in body height was found to be less significant on normalized peak impact force (p=0.478, r²=0.105) and strain ratio (p=0.292, r²=0.217). Same was true for the variation in body weight on normalized peak impact force (p=0.075, r²=0.456) and strain ratio (p=0.857, r²=0.007). The risk factor for fracture was also well correlated to the strain ratio for the inter-trochanteric zone (p<0.0007, r²=0.917) where the most fractures are clinically observed to happen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Trochanteric soft tissue thickness was found likely to be the most dominant parameter over body height and body weight, signifying that a slimmer elderly person, taller or shorter, with less trochanteric soft tissue thickness should be advised to take preventive measures against hip fracture under sideways fall.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Aerospace Engineering & Applied Mechanics, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah 711103, West Bengal, India. Electronic address: majumder.santanu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Santanu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majumder
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roychowdhury
authors.forename: Subrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pal
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D005269:Femur / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D012307:Risk Factors; D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Anthropometric variations; Body height; Body weight; Hip fracture; Sideways fall; Trochanteric soft tissue thickness