[Femur fractures among elderly in Lazio and Tuscany regions from 1999 to 2003].

Objectives: to compare the assistance delivered to elderly persons (age 65 +) hospitalized in 1999-2003 after femur fracture between two Italian regions (Lazio and Tuscany). Indicators derived from current databases have been used.

Main Outcomes: 1) age-standardized proportion of patients treated surgically; 2) age-standardized proportion of patients with surgery within 2 days from admission among all the patients with surgery; 3) age-standardized proportion of deaths within 30 days from admission.

Methods: incident cases and patients undergoing surgery were retrieved from abstract discharge records, while deaths were traced through record linkage with mortality registers.

Results: in the period covered by the study, 32019 incident cases occurred in Lazio region and 30406 in Tuscany. The analysis shows better results for Tuscany for each indicator. In 2003, the age-standardized proportions of patients treated surgically were 83.0% in Lazio and 86.2% in Tuscany. The age-standardized proportion of patients undergoing surgery within 2 days from admission were respectively 14.7%, and 29.8%. The age-standardized proportions of deaths occurring within 30 days from admission were 5.0% and 2.8%. Lazio shows higher proportions of deaths both for patients with and without surgery.

Conclusions: the use of the same procedure based on purely administrative data (available at national level) provides confidence on the reliability of the comparison between the two regions. Similar low-budget studies may easily be extended to other geographical areas.