Patient function, well-being improved 2 years after hip fracture
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Although patients who survived hip fracture experienced declines in function and well-being in the first year after hip fracture, published results showed measurable gains in function and well-being by 2 years after fracture.
Using data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Timothy Bhattacharyya, MD, and colleagues compared outcomes among 82 patients 65 years of age or older who had one hip fracture between 2011 and 2017 with 4,495 control patients.
Results showed 76% and 86% of patients who survived hip fracture reported driving and leaving the house regularly, respectively, in the first year after hip fracture compared with 95% and 99% of control patients. Researchers found 44% of patients who survived hip fracture reported being kept from their favorite activity by their health vs. 18% of control patients. In the first year after hip fracture, 17% of patients who survived hip fracture and 44% of control patients reported working or volunteering in the past month, according to results. Researchers noted 20% of patients who survived hip fracture and 10% of control patients reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless on most days in the first year after hip fracture. Results showed measures of mobility and activities among patients who survived hip fracture returned to peer group levels within 2 years after hip fracture.
Although the social network size of patients who survived hip fracture did not have a notable impact on driving frequency, rates of mobility or rates of depressive symptomatology in the first year after hip fracture, researchers found patients with large social networks were less likely to report being kept from the favorite activity by their health, were more likely to report working or volunteering in the past month, had fewer comorbidities and were less likely to live in an urban location compared with patients who had small social networks.
“Surgeons often see their hip fracture patients at 3 months and are asked about prognosis. Our data demonstrate that patients tend to experience recovery of important functions like driving and mobility and by year 2, are at population norms,” Bhattacharyya told Healio Orthopedics. “Another important finding was that patients with a larger social network recovered faster. So, I am telling my patients now to actively re-engage with their friends and family as they are recovering.”
Perspective
Back to Top
This is a fascinating study evaluating one of the most poorly understood aspects of geriatric hip fracture patients, specifically the psychosocial recovery. The authors used a prospectively collected, longitudinal data set to evaluate hip fracture patients with a control group. The authors report a continued recovery over a 2-year horizon, which was interesting, and I found that informative for counseling patients, as well as families in my own practice.
The most compelling aspect of this investigation was the clear description of depression, participating in “favorite activities” and the impact of social network. I simplified this to be, “What factors can help make our geriatric hip fracture patients happy?” Stressing the importance of social interaction and participation in activities that provide joy for our patients may actually be as important as the technical aspects of surgery. While surgeons love to operate, these authors leave us with a call to action: Engage your hip fracture patients on a personal level to optimize their outcome!
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts