Hip fractures in Hefei, China: the Hefei osteoporosis project

Hip fracture incidence rates in Hefei, China, over a period of 1 year (2010) were assessed. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and epidemiology of hip fracture in Hefei and compare it with other populations. All the hip fracture records were obtained from the Hefei Hospital Discharge Register for the entire population ≥50 years of age and restricted to cervical or trochanteric types. The incidence of hip fracture was standardized to the 2010 World population. A total of 1518 (aged ≥50) hip fractures (628 in men, 890 in women) were recorded during the study period. The age-adjusted incidence rate for 1 year was 144/100,000 (95 % CI = 135–153/100,000) for women and 97/100,000 (95 % CI = 85–109/100,000) for men. The standardized incidence rate against the 2010 World population was 151.7/100,000 for women and 98.2/100,000 for men. The mean age of patients with a hip fracture was 74.5 ± 10.1 years for women and 71.9 ± 11.9 years for men. The overall female to male ratio of hip fracture was 1.48:1 for hip fracture incidence and 1.54:1 for standardized incidence. Simple fall accounted for 85 % hip fractures in total cases. Hefei has a lower incidence of hip fracture compared with Beijing and other countries from the five continents in recent studies, but a higher incidence than those cities in north-east China in the early 1990s. The inequality incidence in different geographic areas could be due to the urbanization or life expectancy of the population, but further investigation needs to be done to confirm this hypothesis. We also found a higher incidence in women than in men. Simple fall may be the main mechanism of injury for hip fracture.