Hip fractures in elderly--ten years analysis.

Geriatric hip fractures (GHP) are the major problem in the geriatric traumatology and it is estimated that treatment of GHF will spend a large amount of health care resources. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare differences in incidence of operatively treated patients with GHF, type of treatment depending of the type of fracture, early postoperative mortality, length of stay and costs of used implants within a 10 years period. Surgically treated 2478 patients, older than 65 years with hip fractures were included in the study. Patients were grouped according to the type of fracture (femoral neck fracture or intertrochanteric femoral fracture) and used implant. Results showed increasing trend in GHF in our County in the last 10 years. There was a shifting trend in used implants, and new surgical techniques were used more commonly in the last few years. In observed period there were no significant changes in revision surgery and length of hospital stay. The mortality decreased, especially in males, but generally it was not in correlation with used implant. At the 10-years period increase in patients with GHF of 179% was followed with 4 time higher increase in implant prices. Present reimbursement in health care system does not calculate the difference of implant costs in hospital expenses, therefore proper usage of modern implants and careful planning in the treatment of GHF is necessary.