Functional outcome, mortality and in-hospital complications of operative treatment in elderly patients with hip fractures in the developing world

Abstract

Hip fracture has been increasing in frequency for several decades, and 70–90% of patients who sustain a hip fracture survive for at least one year. Many of these survivors fail to regain their prefracture functional status. No work in this regard has been done in the developing world. Elderly patients with acute intertrochanteric fracture and fracture of the femoral neck were followed up prospectively for 12 months after surgery to record the mortality, morbidity, functional status and complications. Three hundred and forty-five patients (61% female) were assessed at six and 12 months after surgery, which included 62.9% intertrochanteric fractures and 37% femoral neck fractures. The mechanism of injury was from a fall in 67% of the cases. Nineteen patients died within six months after surgery while another eight died during the next six months. Obesity, male gender, multiple comorbidities and below normal ambulation status before fracture were identified as major determinants of bad functional outcome.