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Association between falling direction and age in older patients with hip fractures

Zusammenhang zwischen Fallrichtung und Alter bei älteren Patienten mit Hüftfrakturen

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Abstract

Background

The incidence of fall-related hip fractures in old patients aged over 85 years was reported to be higher than that in old patients aged between 65 and 84 years; however, there are no known studies that reported differences of these age groups with respect to the falling situation.

Objective

This study investigated the association between age and falling direction in patients with hip fractures.

Material and methods

This study analyzed the medical records of older patients with fall-related hip fractures who were hospitalized in 2011–2018. Demographic (sex, age, and body mass index, BMI), medical and clinical (body mineral density, type of fracture, and cognitive function), and lifestyle variables (use of assistive device for locomotion and place of residence) and characteristics of falling (direction and location) were extracted. These were compared between the patients aged between 65 and 84 years (65–84 group) and over 85 years (85+ group). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate associations with each falling direction (forward, sideways, and backward) with other variables.

Results

Compared with the 65–84 group, the proportion of hip fractures due to sideways falls was lower in the 85+ group (P < 0.05) while the proportion of hip fractures due to backward falls was higher in the 85+ group. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed the sideways and backward falling were only associated with the age group.

Conclusion

These results suggested that the falling direction was associated with age but not with other variables investigated in this study in older patients with hip fractures.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Es ist bekannt, dass die Inzidenz von sturzbedingten Hüftfrakturen bei Patienten ab 85 Jahren höher ist als bei Patienten im Alter zwischen 65 und 84. Uns ist jedoch keine Studie bekannt, die den Unterschied zwischen diesen Altersgruppen bei der konkreten Situation des Sturzes zum Thema hat.

Ziel

Unser Ziel war es, den Zusammenhang zwischen Alter und Richtung des Sturzes bei Patienten mit Hüftfrakturen zu untersuchen.

Materialien und Methoden

Diese Studie analysiert die medizinischen Aufzeichnungen älterer Patienten mit sturzbedingten Hüftfrakturen, die in den Jahren 2011–2018 im Krankenhaus aufgenommen wurden. Demographische Variablen (Geschlecht, Alter und Body-Mass-Index, BMI), medizinische und klinische Variablen (Körpermineraldichte, Art der Fraktur und kognitive Funktion), Lebensstilvariablen (Verwendung von Hilfsmitteln zur Fortbewegung und Wohnort) sowie Sturzmerkmale (Richtung und Ort) wurden dafür extrahiert. Anschließend wurden diese zwischen zwei Gruppen, Patienten im Alter zwischen 65 und 84 (Gruppe 65–84) und Patienten über 85 (Gruppe 85+) Jahren verglichen. Schließlich wurde eine multivariable logistische Regressionsanalyse durchgeführt, um Assoziationen zwischen der Fallrichtung (vorwärts, seitwärts und rückwärts) und anderen Variablen zu untersuchen.

Ergebnisse

Verglichen mit der Gruppe 65–84 war der Anteil der Hüftfrakturen infolge seitlicher Stürze in der Gruppe 85+ niedriger (p < 0,05), während der Anteil der Hüftfrakturen infolge von Rückwärtsstürzen in der Gruppe 85+ höher war. Die Regressionsanalyse zeigte, dass der Seitwärts- und Rückwärtssturz jeweils nur mit der Altersgruppe assoziiert war.

Schlussfolgerung

Diese Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass die Fallrichtung mit dem Alter assoziiert ist, aber nicht mit den anderen Variablen, die in dieser Studie über ältere Patienten mit Hüftfrakturen auch untersucht wurden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Sports Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minamiku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan

    Masanori Morikawa,  Yukio Urabe PhD, Noriaki Maeda, Yuta Suzuki & Sasadai Junpei

  2. Department of Rehabilitation of Matterhorn Rehabilitation Hospital, 1-5-25 Nakadoori, Kure, Hiroshima, 737-0046, Japan

    Yuta Suzuki

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Toshiki Kobayashi

  4. Department of Orthopedics, Matterhorn Rehabilitation Hospital, 1-5-25 Nakadoori Kure, Kure, Hiroshima, 737-0046, Japan

    Taizan Shirakawa

Authors
  1. Masanori Morikawa
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  2. Yukio Urabe PhD
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  3. Noriaki Maeda
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  4. Yuta Suzuki
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  5. Sasadai Junpei
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  6. Toshiki Kobayashi
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  7. Taizan Shirakawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yukio Urabe PhD.

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Conflict of interest

U. Yukio declares that he has no competing interests.

For this article no studies with animals were performed by any of the authors. All studies performed were in accordance with the ethical standards indicated in each case.

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Morikawa, M., Urabe, Y., Maeda, N. et al. Association between falling direction and age in older patients with hip fractures. Z Gerontol Geriat 54, 547–554 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-020-01824-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-020-01824-0

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