title: Decreased rate of hip fracture and consequent reduction in estimated medical costs in Japan.
abstract: The frequency of hip fractures associated with aging of the population is declining in many countries. Even in Japan, where this frequency has been increasing continually, a shift to decreasing frequency has been noted in recent reports. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of this decrease and to estimate the number of hip fracture patients and the resulting reduction in national medical care expenditures. The differences in the number of patients were estimated by multiplying the population for each sex and each age group by the fracture rates before the decrease (2007) and after the decrease (2012). Total reduced cost was calculated by multiplying the treatment cost required for hip fracture and the annual medical cost of nursing care. The estimated number of hip fracture patients decreased by approximately 4000 in the elderly female population, and the resulting reduction in medical costs was approximately US$280 million. The number of patients with hip fractures has decreased in elderly Japanese women; as a result, the medical costs for treatment and nursing care might decrease.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Medical Research Center, Women's Medical Center, Sanno Medical Center, International University of Health and Welfare, 8-5-35, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-0052, Japan. ohta-h@feel.ocn.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.affiliation: Global Health Research Coordinating Center, Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology, 3-2-1 Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki, 213-0012, Japan.|Institute for Medical Regulatory Science, WASEDA University, 1-6-1 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8050, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mouri
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Foundation, 1-1-7 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0051, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.affiliation: National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshitaka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Research Institute and Practice for Involutional Diseases, 1610-1 Meisei, Misato, Azumino, Nagano, 399-8101, Japan.
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shiraki
authors.affiliation: Japan Osteoporosis Foundation, 11-2 Nihonbashi Kobune-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 3-0024, Japan.
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Orimo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Hip fracture; Incidence; Treatment cost