Rate of proximal humeral fractures in older Finnish women between 1970 and 2007.

Low-trauma fractures of older women are a major public health problem. Nevertheless, nationwide information on recent trends of proximal humeral fractures is sparse. We assessed the current trend in the number and rate (per 100,000 persons) of low-trauma fractures of the proximal humerus among 80-year-old or older women in Finland, a European Union country with a well-defined white population of 5.3 million, by taking into account all women who were admitted to our hospitals for primary treatment of such fracture in 1970-2007. The number of low-trauma fractures of the proximal humerus among 80-year-old or older Finnish women rose continuously between 1970 (32 fractures) and 2007 (478 fractures), but because of a simultaneous, sharper rise in population at risk, the age-adjusted fracture rate (showing a clear rise from 88 fractures per 100,000 persons in 1970 to 304 fractures in 1995) became stabilized between 1995 and 2007 (298 fractures per 100,000 persons in 2007). In conclusion, the clear rise in the rate of low-trauma fractures of the proximal humerus in Finnish elderly women from early 1970s until mid 1990s has been followed by stabilized fracture rates. Reasons for this are largely unknown, but a cohort effect toward a healthier aging population with improved functional ability and reduced risk of injurious falls cannot be ruled out.