Background: Osteoporotic hip fractures have been extensively studied in women, but they have been relatively ignored in men.
Objective: To study the mortality, morbidity, and impact on health related quality of life of male hip fractures.
Methods: 100 consecutive men aged 50 years and over, with incident low trauma hip fracture, admitted to Royal Cornwall Hospital, UK during 1995-97, were studied. 100 controls were recruited from a nearby general practice. Mortality and morbidity, including health status assessed using the SF-36, were evaluated over a 2 year follow up period.
Results: Survival after 2 years was 37% in fracture cases compared with 88% in controls (log rank test 62.6, df = 1, p = 0.0001). In the first year 45 patients died but only one control. By 2 years 58 patients but only 8 controls had died. Patients with hip fracture died from various causes, the most common being bronchopneumonia (21 cases), heart failure (9 cases), and ischaemic heart disease (8 cases). Factors associated with increased mortality after hip fracture included older age, residence before fracture in a nursing or residential home, presence of comorbid diseases, and poor functional activity before fracture. Patients with fracture were often disabled with poor quality of life. By 24 months 7 patients could not walk, 12 required residential accommodation, and the mean SF-36 physical summary score was 1.7SD below the normal standards.
Conclusions: Low trauma hip fracture in men is associated with a significant increase in mortality and morbidity. Impaired function before fracture is a key determinant of mortality after fracture.