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Continuous decline in incidence of distal humeral fracture of older women in Finland

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Abstract

Background

Low-trauma fractures (also called osteoporotic fragility fractures or fall-induced fractures) of older adults are a serious public health problem. However, very little population-based information is available on the nationwide numbers, incidences, and especially secular trends of elderly people’s low-trauma fractures of the distal humerus.

Methods

We assessed the current trends in the number and incidence of these fractures in 60-year-old or older women in Finland by taking into account all women who were admitted to Finnish hospitals for primary treatment of such fracture in 1970–2014.

Results

The annual number of low-trauma distal humeral fractures among Finnish women 60 years of age or older rose over fivefold between 1970 and 1998 (from 42 to 224 fractures), but thereafter, the number decreased down to 198 fractures in 2014. The age-adjusted incidence (per 100,000 persons) of these fractures also increased in 1970–1998 (from 12 to 35) but decreased thereafter to 23 in 2014. The finding was similar in the age-specific patient groups (60–69, 70–79, and 80+): The incidence rose from 1970 till 1998 and decreased thereafter.

Conclusions

The steep rise in the rate of low-trauma distal humeral fractures in 60-year-old or older Finnish women from 1970 till late 1990s has been followed by a clearly declining fracture rate. The exact reasons for this secular change are unknown, but a cohort effect toward improved functional ability among elderly women, as well as measures to prevent falls and alleviate fall severity, could partly explain the phenomenon.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Comparative State Research Funding of the Expert Responsibility Area of Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland (Grant 9T016). The organization had no involvement in the (1) study design; (2) collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; (3) writing of the manuscript; and (4) decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Injury and Osteoporosis Research Center, UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, P.O. Box 30, 33501, Tampere, Finland

    Pekka Kannus, Seppo Niemi & Harri Sievänen

  2. Medical School, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Pekka Kannus

  3. Department of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland

    Pekka Kannus

  4. Tampere Research Center of Sports Medicine, UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Tampere, Finland

    Jari Parkkari

Authors
  1. Pekka Kannus
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  2. Seppo Niemi
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  4. Jari Parkkari
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pekka Kannus.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Statement of human and animal rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human subjects were in accordance with ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

As a register-based blinded analysis, the study did not have identifiable individual participants and thus informed consent was not obtained.

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Kannus, P., Niemi, S., Sievänen, H. et al. Continuous decline in incidence of distal humeral fracture of older women in Finland. Aging Clin Exp Res 29, 467–471 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0594-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0594-6

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