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October 08, 2024
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Odontoid fractures yielded higher mortality risks after initial injury vs. hip fractures

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Key takeaways:

  • Odds of a mortality event were 10% after hip fracture vs. 25% after odontoid fracture 2 years after initial injury.
  • At 4 years, the odds were 20% in the hip fracture group vs. 30% in the odontoid fracture group.

Presented results showed patients with odontoid fractures experienced significantly higher mortality risks 2 and 4 years after initial injury compared with patients with hip fractures.

“This paper highlights the stark difference [in mortality risk] and will hopefully bring a bit more increased attention to [the odontoid] patient population and see what we can do from an intervention standpoint to see if we can decrease that mortality risk,” Ram Alluri, MD, a spine surgeon with Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, told Healio about results presented at the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting.

OT0924Alluri2_NASS_Graphic_01
Data were derived from Miles ES, et al. Odontoid fractures portend higher mortality risk compared to hip fractures: A matched cohort analysis. Presented at: North American Spine Society Annual Meeting; Sept. 25-28, 2024; Chicago.

Using the California state database, Alluri and colleagues matched 21,994 patients with hip fractures with 2,217 patients with odontoid fractures based on age, gender and race. Researchers performed a multivariate analysis with significant comorbidities as covariates and analyzed mortality at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and 4 years for both cohorts.

Ram Alluri
Ram Alluri

“At 2 years in the hip fracture cohort, the odds of having a mortality event was about 10% compared to if you had a geriatric odontoid fracture, the odds of sustaining a mortality at 2 years was 25%,” Alluri said.

At 4 years after the initial injury, odds of sustaining a mortality event were 20% after hip fracture vs. 30% after odontoid fracture, according to Alluri.

“Hopefully, the next iterations of studies coming into the pipeline will look at things we can do as clinicians to minimize [mortality] risk, whether it is increased expeditious care in terms of those who need surgical management,” Alluri said.