Can Hip Protector Use Cost-effectively Prevent Fractures in Community-dwelling Geriatric Populations?

Objectives: To estimate the cost-effectiveness from a societal perspective of a hip protector (HP) program over the remaining lifetime of individuals initially living at home.

Design: A state-transition Markov model considering outcomes of HP use in cohorts stratified by age, sex, and functional and residential status. Costs, transition probabilities, HP adherence, and efficacy were derived from published sources.

Setting: Community and nursing homes in the United States.

Participants: Hypothetical cohort of individuals aged 65 and older without a hip fracture and initially living at home.

Intervention: HP program.

Measurements: Fractures, life years, and dollars saved, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER).

Results: HP use prevented fractures and increased life expectancy in all cohorts. HP use saved costs and improved QALYs in women initiating HP use at age 80 and in men at age 85. In women initiating HP use at age 75, the HP ICER was 19,000 dollars/QALY. In men initiating HP use at age 80, HP use saved costs but slightly decreased QALYs. In younger cohorts, HP use was neither cost saving nor QALY improving. In sensitivity analyses, if there was no QALY loss from wearing a HP, the ICER was less than 50,000 dollars/QALY for all age and sex cohorts. If HP cost was reduced 50%, HP use was cost saving for women initiating HP use at age 75. In probabilistic sensitivity analyses, the HP ICER was less than 50,000 dollars/QALY in 68% of simulations for women initiating HP use at age 75 and 61% of simulations for men initiating at age 85.

Conclusion: HP use saved costs and QALYs for older age cohorts of both sexes. Additional research on the quality-of-life effects and obstacles to wearing HP is warranted.