Bliemel C, et al. – This study assessed the impacts of various pre–existing conditions on the outcomes of elderly hip fracture patients. These patients commonly had pre–existing conditions but functional outcomes and mortality rates at the end of acute care and in the medium term were the most affected by pre–existing neurological and kidney–related diseases. Increased mortality rates in the medium term were also related to pre–existing neurological, kidney, respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders, in contrast to pre–existing cardiovascular disease.

Methods

• Researchers performed this prospective, single-centre study in 402 surgically treated geriatric hip fracture patients.
• They recorded patient age, gender and fracture type, along with other information upon admission.
• They divided patients into 6 groups according to their pre-existing illness (neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal or musculoskeletal).
• They measured outcomes in all six patient groups using the following outcome parameters: length of hospital stay, mobility, functional results and mortality rate at discharge and at the one-year follow-up examination.

Results

• Findings demonstrated that reduced values for the pre-fracture Barthel index (BI) were detected in patients with neurological (p < 0.001) and kidney-related diseases (p = 0.001). 
• Researchers observed that neurological and kidney-related diseases were associated with reduced values on the BI (p < 0.001; p = 0.002) and Tinetti test (TT) (p < 0.001;p = 0.004) as well as an increased mortality rate (p < 0.001; p < 0.001) at the one-year follow-up.
• In addition, data revealed that patients with respiratory (p = 0.004) and gastrointestinal disorders (p = 0.007) had an increased mortality rate in the medium term.