Background: Geriatric hip fractures, including femoral neck and pertrochanteric fractures, are common nowadays, which is related to increasing numbers of elderly people worldwide. Osteoporosis is an important risk factor associated with hip fractures. This study aimed to describe the association of hip fractures and osteoporosis at different BMD measurement sites and determine any differences between these two types of hip fracture.
Material and methods: A retrospective study conducted in a university hospital in the south of Thailand enrolled 223 patients aged over 50 years with low-energy trauma hip fractures. Each patient had undergone dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) within 2 weeks of injury. T-scores were recorded for the total hip, femoral neck and lumbar spine areas and classified as normal, osteopenia and osteoporosis according to WHO osteoporosis diagnostic criteria.
Results: The highest proportion of T-scores in the osteoporotic range were registered at the femoral neck (68.6%) compared to total hip (52.9%) and lumbar spine (47.7%). At least 31.4% of patients were in the non-osteoporotic range. No significant differences were found at all sites of BMD measurement between the two types of fracture.
Conclusions: 1. At least 1/3 of patients with geriatric hip fractures had their T-scores in the normal to oste-ope-nic range. 2. BMD in different areas is not different between types of hip fractures.
Keywords: bone mineral density; geriatric; hip fractures; osteoporosis.