Second Hip Fracture Occurrences among Older Adults: 1970-2022

Ray Marks

Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, NY, USA

Dr. Ray Marks, Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, NY, USA.

Keywords: Aging; COVID-19; Frailty; Hip Fractures; Morbidity; Mortality; Older Adults; Second Hip Fractures; Prevention; Surgery

Abstract

Hip fractures, which remain an immense public health concern, have been subject to study and prevention efforts for many years, but with limited success in averting either incident, second or subsequent hip fractures. This review examines second hip fracture incidence rates and determinants of this injury both before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and after COVID-19 emerged in 2019. It specifically explores if more preventive efforts are currently warranted in this regard, and in what respect, if indeed, more frail older adults are living longer, but may be in excessively poor health due to COVID-19 health impacts, plus ensuing legal restrictions and closures. Based on what is published, it is concluded 1) second hip fracture incidence rates remain considerable, especially among those who are frail with osteoporotic bone disease, poor vision, heart/or cognitive conditions, plus those who have muscle deficits of the lower limb, live alone and have a falls history; 2) studies to identify the impact of COVID-19 on hip fracture re-injury incidence and mechanisms, plus recovery trends, and any desired novel mitigation approaches that appear promising in this regard, along with more routine efforts to minimize bone attrition are strongly recommended to avert a possible excess wave of recurrent hip fractures that could overwhelm the individual as well as declining human and healthcare resources.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).