Increasing Incidence of Hip Fracture in Crete

In Crete, 459 patients with a hip fracture were treated during 1986 and studied prospectively. The female/male and trochanteric/cervical fractures ratios were both 2. The majority of the patients (96 percent) were 50 years of age and over. The incidence was found to be 10 per 10,000 inhabitants for the whole population, whereas in the age group of 50 years and over, it was 30; and in the age group of 80 years and over, 140 per 10,000. From 1982 to 1986, the annual number of patients with a hip fracture increased by 20 percent, while the population 50 years and over remained practically unchanged. Compared with Scandinavia, the number of fractures in Crete is lower, and the proportion of trochanteric fractures is higher.