Cork research: Elderly women who fracture their hip have a 40 per cent chance of dying within a year, according to a new study. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
The research, carried out at Cork University Hospital, draws attention to the many women treated in their 40s and 50s for fractured wrists which have occurred as a result of having fragile bones - an indication of early onset of osteoporosis - but are not treated for the condition. If their osteoporosis was treated, the likelihood of other fractures later in life would be greatly reduced, according to one of the authors of the research, Dr John Street.
He said 80-year-old Irish women had a life expectancy of 7.6 years but if they fractured their hip at age 80, their life expectancy would be reduced by 40 per cent. Two years on, it could be reduced by as much as 60 per cent. Furthermore, the fracture will result in many being admitted to nursing homes.
Dr Street, Dr Brian Lenehan and a number of their colleagues, looked at all fractures admitted to the hospital over a 16-month period, from late 2002 to the end of 2003, which ended up going to theatre.
The fractures, which included those in children, numbered 3,000, and about one-third were "fragility fractures" which would indicate fragile bones and a need to investigate for osteoporosis.
Up to 566 of the fractures were hip fractures as a result of osteoporosis and the mean age of these patients - three-quarters of whom were female - was 80 years.
At least a quarter of these patients were found to have sustained previous fragility fractures but only 10 per cent of them were taking anti-osteoporosis therapy (vitamin D, calcium and bisphosphonate).
Dr Street added that while a quarter of the 566 people treated for hip fractures were admitted from nursing homes, one year after the fracture, half of the group were residing in nursing homes. This was a huge burden on the State and if their osteoporosis was treated at an earlier stage, huge savings could have been made on hospital and nursing home bills, he said.
"The findings are very worrying. It really reflects a lack of awareness and almost reluctance among surgeons to treat osteoporosis," he said.
Subsequent to the study, any patient in their 40s or 50s attending outpatients at the Cork hospital with fragility fractures is referred for a bone mineral density test.
The numbers on therapy have risen by over 70 per cent as a result.