HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Forsén, L Articles by Arstad, C Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Forsén, L Articles by Arstad, C

Risk of hip fracture in protected and unprotected falls in nursing homes in Norway

¹ Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
² County of Akershus and the municipalities of Asker and Bærum, Norway
³ TNO Prevention and Health, Leiden, The Netherlands

Correspondence to:
Lisa Forsén
Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Post Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway; lisa.forsen{at}fhi.no

Objectives: To compare the probability of hip fracture in protected and unprotected falls in a real world setting in nursing homes.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Seventeen nursing homes (965 beds) in Norway.

Subjects: All residents in the nursing homes with at least one fall during the intervention period.

Intervention: Hip protectors were introduced as a regular part of the health care service for all the residents for an intervention period of 18 months. Residents who were considered high risk were especially encouraged to be regular users of hip protectors.

Main outcome measures: Hip fracture in protected and unprotected falls.

Results: At the time of the first fall within each faller, 430 were non-users of hip protectors, while 84 were registered as users, but did not wear it, and 191 were users and did wear it. The odds ratio of suffering a hip fracture was 0.31, 95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.75 for wearers compared with non-wearers in the first fall, adjusted for age, gender, and whether they were registered as users or not.

Conclusion: The odds of suffering a hip fracture for nursing home high risk residents was reduced to less than a third in protected falls compared with unprotected falls. Or, in other words, the odds of hip fracture showed a 69% reduction in protected falls compared with unprotected falls.

Keywords: accidental falls; frail elderly; hip fractures; patient compliance; protective clothing; hip protectors

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio