Estimating Hip Fracture Morbidity, Mortality and Costs

Objectives: To estimate lifetime morbidity, mortality, and costs from hip fracture incorporating the effect of deficits in activities of daily living.

Design: Markov computer cohort simulation considering short- and long-term outcomes attributable to hip fractures. Data estimates were based on published literature, and costs were based primarily on Medicare reimbursement rates.

Setting: Postacute hospital facility.

Participants: Eighty-year-old community dwellers with hip fractures.

Measurements: Life expectancy, nursing facility days, and costs.

Results: Hip fracture reduced life expectancy by 1.8 years or 25% compared with an age- and sex-matched general population. About 17% of remaining life was spent in a nursing facility. The lifetime attributable cost of hip fracture was $81,300, of which nearly half (44%) related to nursing facility expenses. The development of deficits in ADLs after hip fracture resulted in substantial morbidity, mortality, and costs.

Conclusion: Hip fractures result in significant mortality, morbidity, and costs. The estimated lifetime cost for all hip fractures in the United States in 1997 likely exceeded $20 billion. These results emphasize the importance of current and future interventions to decrease the incidence of hip fracture.