• Eliot Salmon, Matthew Oliver, Kendall Bein, Melanie Berry, Christopher Partyka, Radhika Seimon, Hardeep Singh, and Michael Dinh.
• Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2024 Dec 1; 36 (6): 884890884-890.

ObjectiveDetermine long-term trends in population-based incidence and outcomes of rib fracture hospitalisations.MethodsThis was a data linkage study of rib fracture cases identified between 2015 and 2022 in New South Wales, Australia. Routinely collected health data were linked between ED, admitted patient and death registry data collection. The primary outcomes were age-specific incidence of rib fracture hospitalisation cases and risk-adjusted 30 days mortality. Other outcomes of interest were hospital length of stay (LOS), admission rate and ICU admissions.ResultsA total of 70 609 cases were analysed. Overall, the number of rib fracture hospitalisations increased by 25% between 2015 and 2022. The highest proportion of cases was in the 45-65 years (28%) and 65-85 years (31%) age groups. On a per population basis, the incidence rate increased by 2% per annum. After adjusting for age, comorbidity and injury severity, there was no significant trend in 30 days mortality observed between 2015 and 2022. The median inpatient LOS was 4 days with 38% of patients staying 1-2 days. Regional and rural areas were associated with more severe chest injuries.ConclusionRib fracture hospitalisations have increased with older patients driving this trend.© 2024 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

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