Abstract
Summary
Hip fracture increases death risk. Ten percent of survivors have second hip fracture. It is not known if second hip fracture further increases death risk. Here, we report that second hip fracture increases death risk beyond that expected for an increase in age. Secondary prevention after hip fracture could save lives.
Introduction
The purpose of this study is to determine if second hip fracture is associated with an increased death rate.
Methods
We retrieved 42,435 hospitalization records of patients aged 60 years or older, who were discharged after admission for hip fracture surgery between 1990 and 2005 in British Columbia, Canada. The outcome variable was the time to death.
Results
During follow-up, the average monthly death rate was 16.2 (95 % CI 16.0–16.4) per 1000 patient-months for those without second hip fracture and 21.1 (95 % CI 20.2–22.1) per 1000 patient-months for those with second hip fracture. The hazard of death was 55 % higher for patients with second hip fracture compared to those without second hip fracture (HR = 1.55, 95 % CI 1.47–1.63). The hazard of death was 58 % higher for men with second hip fracture than in men without second hip fracture (HR = 1.58, 95 % CI 1.42–1.75). The hazard of death was 54 % higher for women with second hip fracture compared to women without second hip fracture (HR = 1.54, 95 % CI 1.46–1.63). These sex-specific HRs were not statistically different (p = 0.70).
Conclusion
Our results are the first to show that second hip fracture increases the risk of death above that anticipated for an increase in age for both men and women. Effective secondary prevention strategies could not only reduce morbidity after hip fracture but could also save lives.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.


References
Schroder HM, Petersen KK, Erlandsen M (1993) Occurrence and incidence of the second hip fracture. Clin Orthop Relat Res 289:166–69
Khan SK, Rushton SP, Dosani A, Gray AC, Deehan DJ (2013) Factors influencing length of stay and mortality after first and second hip fractures: an event modeling analysis. J Orthop Trauma 27:82–86
Ryg J, Rejnmark L, Overgaard S, Brixen K, Vestergaard P (2009) Hip fracture patients at risk of second hip fracture: a nationwide population-based cohort study of 169,145 cases during 1977–2001. J Bone Miner Res 24:1299–307
Mitani S, Shimizu M, Abo M, Hagino H, Kurozawa Y (2010) Risk factors for second hip fractures among elderly patients. J Orthop Sci 15:192–97
Omsland TK, Emaus N, Tell GS, Magnus JH, Ahmed LA, Holvik K, Center J, Forsmo S, Gjesdal CG, Schei B, Vestergaard P, Eisman JA, Falch JA, Tverdal A, Sogaard AJ, Meyer HE (2014) Mortality following the first hip fracture in Norwegian women and men (1999–2008). A NOREPOS study. Bone 63:81–86
Berry SD, Samelson EJ, Hannan MT, McLean RR, Lu M, Cupples LA, Shaffer ML, Beiser AL, Kelly-Hayes M, Kiel DP (2007) Second hip fracture in older men and women: the Framingham study. Arch Intern Med 167:1971–76
Sawalha S, Parker MJ (2012) Characteristics and outcome in patients sustaining a second contralateral fracture of the hip. J Bone Joint Surg Br 94:102–6
British Columbia Ministry of Health [creator] (1985-2005): Discharge Abstract Database (Hospital Separations). Population Data BC [publisher]. Data Extract. MOH (1985-2005). http://www.popdata.bc.ca/data 2003
Centre for Disease Control (2011) ICD-9-CM official guidelines for coding and reporting. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/icd/icd9cm_guidelines_2011.pdf
Statistics Canada (1978) Canadian classification of diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical procedures
British Columbia Ministry of Health [creator]. Discharge Abstract Database (Hospital Separations). Population Data BC [publisher]. Data extract. MOH (2011). http://www.popdata.bc.ca/data 2003
Lenner P (1990) The excess mortality rate. A useful concept in cancer epidemiology. Acta Oncol 29:573–76
Haentjens P, Magaziner J, Colon-Emeric CS, Vanderschueren D, Milisen K, Velkeniers B, Boonen S (2010) Meta-analysis: excess mortality after hip fracture among older women and men. Ann Intern Med 152:380–390
Klotzbuecher CM, Ross PD, Landsman PB, Abbott TA III, Berger M (2000) Patients with prior fractures have an increased risk of future fractures: a summary of the literature and statistical synthesis. J Bone Miner Res 15:721–39
El-Khoury F, Cassou B, Charles MA, Dargent-Molina P (2013) The effect of fall prevention exercise programmes on fall induced injuries in community dwelling older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ 347:f6234
Abrahamsen B, van ST, Ariely R, Olson M, Cooper C (2009) Excess mortality following hip fracture: a systematic epidemiological review. Osteoporos Int 20:1633–50
Allison PD (2010) Survival analysis using SAS; second edition
Liu S, Zhu Y, Chen W, Sun T, Cheng J, Zhang Y Risk factors for the second contralateral hip fracture in elderly patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Bliuc D, Nguyen ND, Milch VE, Nguyen TV, Eisman JA, Center JR (2009) Mortality risk associated with low-trauma osteoporotic fracture and subsequent fracture in men and women. JAMA 301:513–21
Omsland TK, Emaus N, Tell GS, Ahmed LA, Center JR, Nguyen ND, Gjesdal CG, Forsmo S, Schei B, Sogaard AJ, Meyer HE (2013) Ten-year risk of second hip fracture. A NOREPOS study. Bone 52:493–97
Conflicts of interest
Pierre Guy has received grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research related to this work. He also receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the British Columbia Specialists Services Committee for the work around hip fracture care not related to this manuscript. He has also received fees from the BC Specialists Services Committee (for a provincial quality improvement project on redesign of hip fracture care) and from Stryker Orthopedics (as a product development consultant). He is a board member and shareholder in Traumis Surgical Systems Inc. and a board member for the Canadian Orthopedic Foundation. He also serves on the speakers’ bureaus of AO Trauma North America and Stryker Canada.
Katie Sheehan is a postdoctoral fellow whose salary is paid by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research funding related to this work.
Boris Sobolev and Lisa Kuramoto declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOC 48 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sobolev, B., Sheehan, K.J., Kuramoto, L. et al. Excess mortality associated with second hip fracture. Osteoporos Int 26, 1903–1910 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-015-3104-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-015-3104-3