• Giuseppe Bellelli, Paolo Mazzola, Maurizio Corsi, Antonella Zambon, Giovanni Corrao, Giuseppe Castoldi, Giovanni Zatti, and Giorgio Annoni.
• Department of Clinical and Preventive Medicine, University of Milano-Bicocca and Geriatric Clinic, S. Gerardo Hospital, via Cadore 48, Monza, Italy. giuseppe.bellelli@unimib.it
• J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2012 Sep 1;13(7):664.e9-664.e14.

BackgroundDelayed surgery (ie, >48 hours from arrival in hospital) and pre-fracture disability are thought to be long-term risk factors for mortality in patients with hip fracture (HF). However, the combined effect on mortality of these two conditions has not been satisfactorily assessed in previous studies.ObjectiveTo assess the combined effect of pre-fracture disability and delayed surgery on 12-month mortality in a population of elderly patients after HF surgical treatment.DesignRetrospective cohort study with 12-month follow-up.SettingAn orthogeriatric unit (OGU) in a university hospital in Italy.MethodsAll patients (n = 390) admitted to an OGU from March 2007 to December 2010 who underwent proximal HF surgery and who were not transferred to other hospitals were considered for the analyses. Pre-fracture disability was defined as having an impairment in more than one activity of daily living (ADL). The 12-month mortality was assessed by a Kaplan-Meyer analysis and by a Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusting for relevant potential confounders.ResultsAfter adjusting for potential confounders, patients with both delayed surgery and pre-fracture disability had a significantly higher 12-month mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 5.80; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.11-15.92) than patients with neither delayed surgery nor disability (reference group). Patients with disability but not delayed surgery had a nearly 4-fold increased mortality risk (HR, 3.98; 95% CI 1.41-11.27) than patients in the reference group.ConclusionsPatients with both pre-fracture disability and delayed HF surgical treatment had a nearly six-fold increased 12-month mortality risk than did patients with neither disability nor delayed surgery.Copyright © 2012 American Medical Directors Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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