Patient-specific factors affecting survival following hip fractures-a 14-year follow-up study in Finland.

Unlabelled: The mortality of elderly hip fracture patients is high. Eighty-five percent of all patients were followed until death. The three most protective factors for 1-year survival were ASA class; BMI; and age, and the four most protective factors for 14-year survival were age; BMI; ASA class; and subtrochanteric fracture type.

Relatively low and moderate pre-fracture serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels associated with the highest survival in elderly hip fracture patients in Finland: a minimum 3-year follow-up.

Unlabelled: The association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and post-fracture mortality indicates beneficial relatively high serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations. A 1-year cohort study on 245 hip fracture patients in Finland indicated the lowest 3-year mortality and highest survival among patients with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of 50-74 nmol/L.

Purpose: To explore pre-fracture serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level as a factor associated with post-fracture survival among a cohort of hip fracture patients in Finland.

IMPDH2: a new gene associated with dominant juvenile-onset dystonia-tremor disorder.

The aetiology of dystonia disorders is complex, and next-generation sequencing has become a useful tool in elucidating the variable genetic background of these diseases. Here we report a deleterious heterozygous truncating variant in the inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase gene (IMPDH2) by whole-exome sequencing, co-segregating with a dominantly inherited dystonia-tremor disease in a large Finnish family. We show that the defect results in degradation of the gene product, causing IMPDH2 deficiency in patient cells.

Use of benzodiazepines, z-hypnotics and antidepressants among hip fracture patients in Finland. Consistency between recorded and detected benzodiazepines.

Purpose: We described the use of benzodiazepines (BZDs), z-hypnotics, and antidepressants; analyzed the consistency between recorded and detected BZDs among hip fracture patients admitted to two Finnish hospitals during one year; and compared the results with corresponding results from 12 years earlier.

Methods: Current use of medication was obtained from the National Prescription Register. Urine and blood samples used to detect BZD were taken during admission.

A 10-Year Retrospective Study of 490 Hip Fracture Patients: Reoperations, Direct Medical Costs, and Survival.

Background And Aims: Reoperations after operative treatment of hip fracture patients may be associated with higher costs and inferior survival. We examined the acute hospital costs, long-term reoperation rates, and survival of patients with a new hip fracture.

Materials And Methods: A total of 490 consecutive new hip fracture patients treated at a single center between 31 December 2004 and 6 December 2006 were analyzed retrospectively.

Correction to: Remarkable improvement in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin levels among hip fracture patients over a 12-year period: a prospective study in South-eastern Finland.

The presentation of Table 4 was unclear in the original publication. The article has now been corrected in this respect.

Remarkable improvement in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin levels among hip fracture patients over a 12-year period: a prospective study in South-eastern Finland.

Unlabelled: Hypovitaminosis D is a problem among hip fracture patients. In a 1-year cohort study comprising 245 hip fracture patients (mean age of females 81 years and males 78 years) from south-eastern Finland, the mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D [S-25(OH)D] concentration was 73(SD 31) nmol/L. Vitamin D supplementation has been integrated into our current practice.

Positive Effects of a Sufficient Pre-fracture Serum Vitamin D Level on the Long-Term Survival of Hip Fracture Patients in Finland: A Minimum 11-Year Follow-Up.

Background: Several studies have shown that the mortality of elderly hip fracture patients is higher than that in the general population, and is higher in male than in female hip fracture patients.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate factors affecting overall mortality at a minimum of 11 years following a new hip fracture.

Methods: The sex, age, pre-fracture serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification (ASA class), 1- to 12-month mortality, and 2- to 11-year mortality of hip fracture patients were collected.

An 8-year follow-up study of 221 consecutive hip fracture patients in Finland: analysis of reoperations and their direct medical costs.

Background: Some hip fracture patients need one or more reoperations because of complications following initial operative treatment.

Aims: The aim of this study was to identify all further surgical interventions in a cohort of patients with hip fractures over a period of 8 years after index fracture. Immediate direct costs of these reoperations were also calculated.

A long-term follow-up of 221 hip fracture patients in southeastern Finland: analysis of survival and prior or subsequent fractures.

Unlabelled: To analyze the type and effect of prior and subsequent fractures in a hip fracture cohort.

Materials And Methods: Hip fracture patients (n=221) were followed for a mean of 8 years and all prior and subsequent fractures were studied. Incidence of the first fracture and subsequent fractures according to sex, age group, and time between the first and the index hip fracture were measured.

Second hip fracture and patients' medication after the first hip fracture: a follow-up of 221 hip fracture patients in Finland.

The national Finnish guidelines for medical treatment of hip fracture patients are: anti-osteoporotic drugs and the daily concomitant use of calcium plus vitamin D supplements. We investigated the incidence, the fracture type and the side of all second hip fractures among 221 consecutive hip fracture patients who were followed up for 5 years. The medication of the patients and the time interval between the first and second hip fracture were analyzed.

Post-fracture prescribed calcium and vitamin D supplements alone or, in females, with concomitant anti-osteoporotic drugs is associated with lower mortality in elderly hip fracture patients: a prospective analysis.

Background: Several studies have shown excess mortality among hip fracture patients compared with the normal population of the same age. Finnish guidelines for medical treatment of hip fracture patients recommend anti-osteoporosis medication and the daily concomitant use of prescribed calcium and vitamin D supplements. However, whether post-fracture use of calcium and vitamin D supplements is associated with survival in such patients has not been evaluated.

Undertreatment of osteoporosis following hip fracture in the elderly.

The national Finnish guidelines for medical treatment of hip fracture patients are: osteoporosis medication and the daily concomitant use of vitamin D and calcium supplements. We investigated the post-fracture medical therapy for osteoporosis and the calcium and vitamin D therapy among hip fracture patients in two Finnish hospitals. The pre-fracture osteoporosis medication and use of calcium and vitamin D supplements of the patients were inquired on admission.

Acute alcohol use among patients with acute hip fractures: a descriptive incidence study in southeastern Finland.

Aim: To assess the very recent use of alcohol among patients admitted to two Finnish hospitals due to an acute hip fracture.

Method: Very recent use of alcohol was recorded according to the patient's or the relatives' report. Ethanol was measured in blood samples taken at admission.

Use of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-related drugs among 223 patients with an acute hip fracture in Finland: Comparison of benzodiazepine findings in medical records and laboratory assays.

Background And Objective: CNS drugs are a risk factor for falls and fractures among older people. Our aim was to describe the use of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-related drugs among patients admitted to two Finnish hospitals as a result of an acute hip fracture, and to analyse the concordance of benzodiazepine findings from different data sources.

Patients And Methods: We studied the use of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-related drugs by (i) asking the patient or his/her relatives about his/her use of hypnotics; (ii) checking the patient's medical records; and (iii) analysing for the presence of benzodiazepines in serum and urine.

Half of the patients with an acute hip fracture suffer from hypovitaminosis D: a prospective study in southeastern Finland.

Vitamin D deficiency may be one important contributing risk factor for an osteoporotic fracture among elderly. We analyzed serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [S-25(OH)D] status in patients with an acute hip fracture in southeastern Finland (61 degrees N). Consecutive patients with a fresh hip fracture (n=223) in two Finnish hospitals during 12 months and 15 months were registered prospectively.

Fixation of syndesmotic ruptures in 38 patients with a malleolar fracture: a randomized study comparing a metallic and a bioabsorbable screw.

Objectives: To compare the performance of a metallic and a biodegradable screw in the fixation of tibia-fibula syndesmotic ruptures.

Design: A randomized, prospective, and blinded study.

Setting: Central hospital, Department of Surgery.

Parkinsonism, premature menopause, and mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma mutations: clinical and molecular genetic study.

Background: Mutations in the gene encoding mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma (POLG), the enzyme that synthesises mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), have been associated with a mitochondrial disease-autosomal dominant or recessive progressive external ophthalmoplegia-and multiple deletions of mtDNA. Mitochondrial dysfunction is also suspected to participate in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. However, no primary gene defects affecting mitochondrial proteins causing mendelian transmission of parkinsonism have been characterised.

Simple end-to-end suture versus augmented repair in acute Achilles tendon ruptures: a retrospective comparison in 98 patients.

We retrospectively compared the results in 98 patients with an acute Achilles tendon rupture treated with an augmented tendon repair (n = 59) to patients with an end-to-end suture (n = 39) after an average follow-up of 44 (22-69) months. 7 patients were operated on more than 2 weeks after the rupture, all with augmention. The complication rates in the augmention group were 0.

Diseases caused by nuclear genes affecting mtDNA stability.

Diseases caused by nuclear genes that affect mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) stability are an interesting group of mitochondrial disorders, involving both cellular genomes. In these disorders, a primary nuclear gene defect causes secondary mtDNA loss or deletion formation, which leads to tissue dysfunction. Therefore, the diseases clinically resemble those caused by mtDNA mutations, but follow a Mendelian inheritance pattern.