Cohort study evaluating the risk of hip fracture among patients with dementia in Taiwan

Abstract

Background: To investigate the incidence and risk of hip fracture among dementia patients

Methods: This is a retrospective population-based 7-year cohort study using case-control matched analysis database from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. Patients were diagnosed with codes or International Classification of Diseases-9-CM codes of dementia, between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2006. The prevalence and the adjusted odds ratio of hip fracture among dementia patients and the controls were estimated.

Results: We enrolled 3101 patients with dementia in the dementia cohort and 12,404 (1:4) patients in the control group. Of these, 202 patients experienced hip fractures. The incidence of hip fracture was 1178 per 100,000 person-years in the dementia cohort and 624 per 100,000 person-years in the comparison cohort. The hip fracture hazard ratio during the follow-up period was 1.89 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.60-2.23, p < 0.001) for dementia patients. After adjusting for the covariates, the hazard ratio of hip fracture was 1.41 (95% CI, 1.19-1.69, p < 0.001) for dementia patients.

Conclusion: People with dementia experience an increased incidence of hip fracture and are at a higher risk of sustaining a hip fracture in the future. Proper and effective hip fracture-prevention strategies are essential for dementia patients.

Keywords: dementia; hip fracture; population; risk.