Introduction: Among numerous international studies on hip fractures only few were dealing with the occurrence and risk of a subsequent hip fracture. Some studies contain information identifying patients at risk of subsequent hip fractures as well as the risk of a hip fracture following another osteoporotic fracture, others on outcome following the subsequent fracture.
Material and methods: The Funen County Hip Fracture Register contains information on every consecutive hip fracture in the county of Funen since January 1st 996. The register contains general information about the patient i.e.: type of fracture, operative treatment, complications, living conditions, ADL, as well as information from 4 and 12 month out-patient visit and if necessary re-surgery. A maximum of 155 variables can be recorded about every patient. The register has been subjected to a complete revision and validation (4.660 patient files was checked) and contained a total number of 7.457 hip fractures from January 1st 1996 to December 31st 2003. Incidence numbers were calculated based on risk of fracture from the first fracture since January 1st 1996 to death or December 31st 2003.
Results: In the period January 1st 1996 to December 31st 2003, 7,457 fractures were registered. Of these, 261 patients were registered with a second fracture, the primary fracture occurring before the period and thus excluded. Within the period 6,676 primary fractures were registered, and of these 520 patients (7.5 %) experienced a subsequent fracture. The median time from primary to subsequent fracture was 8 months (range 0–75 months) in males and 14 months (range 0–82 months) in females, the overall median was 13.5 months (range 0–82 months). In males the risk of dying after the primary hip fracture was 10 times higher than the risk of sustaining a subsequent hip fracture, in females it was five times higher.
Conclusion: Only few patients with a hip fracture will experience a subsequent hip fracture and with the short time frame presented, any intervention should have immediate impact.
