Abstract

ALVES, Sandra Ferreira; PINA, Maria de Fátima  and  BARBOSA, Mário. Epidemiology of Femur Fractures in Portugal .. Arq Med [online]. 2007, vol.21, n.3-4, pp.77-81. ISSN 2183-2447.

Fractures related to osteoporosis have been increasing in many countries. Femoral neck fractures have been widely studied, however little is known about other femur fractures and its relationship with osteoporosis. The main objective of this study is the comparison between the incidence of neck fractures attributed to osteoporosis with the ones that occurs in other places of femur other than the neck, in the same conditions. It was used a national database, under the regulation of a governmental institute, with registers from 2000 to 2002. From the total number of femural fractures the authors selected the registers corresponding to individuals with more than fifty years of age and due to low impact, it were analysed separately the femoral neck fractures ( International Classification of Diseases codes, 9^th Revision, Clinical Modification, ICD9-CM codes 820 and derivates) from the fractures that occurred in other locations in the femur (ICD9-CM codes 821 and derivates). Case fatality rates and the incidence rates were calculated for that period of time, and an analysis of the variables age, days and costs of hospital admission as well as of the variable destination after discharge. Only 7.6% of the femural fractures were coded as 821.x, all the others were coded as 820.x. In both groups the fractures were more frequent in women (above 75%) and showed an exponential increase with age. The costs were higher in the 820.x fractures which also presented higher case fatality rates.

Keywords : femur; fracture; osteoporosis; low impact.

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