Trends in the incidence of hip fracture in Siena, Italy, from 1980 to 1991.

Abstract

There is general agreement that the crude incidence of proximal femur (hip) fractures is rising in conjunction with the ageing of the underlying population. To explore possible changes in hip fracture incidence over time we analysed all femoral fractures occurring in the county of Siena from 1980 to 1991. Data were collected from hospital record charts of the Department of Orthopaedics, recording all hip fractures occurring during the 12-year period. In this period, the mean resident population in Siena was 238,369 inhabitants (aged 0 to 90+ years) and the crude number of all femoral fractures was 2,238. However, in calculating incidence rates, only hip fractures occurring in the population aged over 50 years were considered. In this population, the number of hip fractures was 1,825 with a male/female ratio of 1:2.8. A time-series data analysis (temporal trend) of the incidence of hip fracture during the 12-year period revealed a linear and significant (p < 0.001) trend to increase, but only in males, with an annual increasing rate of 3.62 per 100,000 person-years. In the female population, the temporal analysis did not show any significant trend during the observation period.