Concurrent uper limb and hip fracture in the elderly: experience at our centre.

Introduction: The incidence of hip fracture in the elderly is on the rise, occasionally accompanied by concurrent upper limb fractures. Our investigation aims to determine whether these patients experience poorer functional outcomes, prolonged hospitalization, or higher mortality rates when compared to those with isolated hip fracture.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1,088 elderly patients admitted to our centre with hip fracture between January 2017 and March 2020. We recorded the presence of concomitant fractures and their treatment. We analyzed the duration of hospital stay, in-hospital mortality and function.

Results: We identified 63 patients with concomitant upper limb fracture (5.6%). Among them, 93.7% were women, and the average age was 86.4 years. 80.9% of the upper limb fractures were distal radius or proximal humerus. Patients with concomitant fracture had increased length of stay (mean, 19.6 vs, 12.8, p=0.002), decreased proportion of patients returning to their own home at discharge (23.6% vs, 26.3%, p=0.042) and increased in-hospital mortality rate (9.5% vs, 5.9%, p=0.003).

Conclusions: Patients with concomitant upper limb fracture require a longer length of stay and exhibit an elevated in-hospital mortality rate. Furthermore, this condition is associated with a reduced short-term functional recovery, thereby decreasing the chances of the patient returning home upon hospital discharge.