Incidence of hip fracture and 30-day hospital readmissions in a region of central Italy from 2006 to 2015

Aim: Increased life expectancy causes a higher prevalence of chronic and degenerative diseases, and greater frailty among older people. Hip fracture is a common event for older people, and 1-year mortality after hip fracture is high. The present study was carried out in the Abruzzo region, Italy, over the years from 2006 to 2015, entailing as its main objectives the assessment of age and sex-specific trends in the incidence of hip fractures, with the subsequent hospital mortality. Causes of 30-day hospital readmissions were assessed. Methods: Data were collected from all hospital discharge records. Information on all 30-day readmissions was also retrieved. Results: Overall, 23 075 patients were admitted to hospital for hip fracture (mean age 81.0 ± 11.7 years,72.6% women). The overall hip fracture incidence remained constant over the study period, varying from 175.9 cases in 2006 to 179.3 cases per 100 000 in 2015. However, the incidence progressively increased from 40.0 to 51.0 among men, and from 61.6 to 80.9 among patients aged >85 years. The in-hospital mortality rate was 3.8%. Within 30 days from the hip fracture discharge, 10 526 patients (45.6%) had a second hospitalization, related to the condition of interest in >80% of the patients. Additionally, 414 (3.9%) patients died during the second hospitalization. Conclusions: Although women aged >65 years remain the category of patients at highest risk of hip fracture, an increasing trend is observed among men and patients aged >85 years. Hip fracture is frequently associated with early hospital readmission and is responsible for elevated in-hospital mortality.