Purpose: We aimed at updating our previous researches about the burden of hip fractures in elderly Italian population.
Methods: We analyzed national hospitalizations records from 2000 to 2014 to compute age- and sex-specific standardized rates.
Results: 1,335,375 hospitalizations were recorded in people ≥ 65 (1,031,816 women: 77.27% and 303,559 men: 22.73%) over 15 years, passing from 73,493 in year 2000 to 94,525 in 2014, with an overall increase of 28.62% over the 15-year period (females: + 25.1%; males: + 41.2%). About 84.9% of total hip fractures were suffered by patients aged ≥ 75 years old. Direct hospitalization costs and rehabilitation costs increased from 343 to 457 million Euros and from 392 to 504 million Euros from year 2000 to 2014, respectively. Overall costs of hip fractures raised from 735 to 961 million Euros (+ 30.74% from 2000 to 2014).
Conclusion: The number of hip fractures and related hospitalizations costs in Italian elderly population is still increasing due to the absolute number of fractures occurring in people ≥ 65 years old and particularly over 75 years old.
Keywords: Costs; Hip fractures; Hospitalizations; Incidence; Osteoporosis.