Why fall prevention is so important........
Any who has had a loved one who sustains a hip fracture knows that these are life changing if not life-limiting events in the lives of older adults. A recently published article in JAMA Internal Medicine gives further credence to this, as well as giving us evidence to guide our prognostic estimates when caring for someone who sustains a hip fractures in a nursing home setting.
The study by Neuman and colleagues looked at survival and functional outcomes after hip fracture in 60,111 long-term nursing home residents who were hospitalized with an acute hip fracture between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2009. The primary outcome was death from any cause within 180 days of hospital admission. They also looked at functional outcomes that were based on self-performance for 7 ADLs as recorded in the last available Minimal Data Set (MDS) assessment within 180 days after the index admission.
What Were the Results?
The median survival time after fracture was 377 days (the interquartile range was 70-1002 days).
Six months after hip fracture:
The study by Neuman and colleagues looked at survival and functional outcomes after hip fracture in 60,111 long-term nursing home residents who were hospitalized with an acute hip fracture between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2009. The primary outcome was death from any cause within 180 days of hospital admission. They also looked at functional outcomes that were based on self-performance for 7 ADLs as recorded in the last available Minimal Data Set (MDS) assessment within 180 days after the index admission.
What Were the Results?
The median survival time after fracture was 377 days (the interquartile range was 70-1002 days).
Six months after hip fracture:
- 1 out of every 3 (36%) nursing home residents died
- 1 out of every 2 (46%) male nursing home residents died.
- Half (54%) of those who were not totally dependent in locomotion prior to the hip fracture had either died or developed new total dependence in locomotion