No differences in the incidences of old people's hip fractures between urban and rural populations--a comparative study in two Finnish health care regions in 1989.

In a prospective study, incidences of hip fractures among the aged in urban and rural populations were compared in two health care regions in Finland in 1989. Both the administrative and the more informative functional classification of the municipalities were used. During 1989, a total of 366 patients, aged 55 years and above, who had a permanent place of domicile in either one of the two health care regions, were treated for a fresh hip fracture. In both regions women sustained 80% of the fractures. No significant differences were found in the incidences of hip fractures between the urban and rural populations. However, a significant difference was found in the mean incidence between the towns of the two health care regions (t = 4.228, d.f. = 6, p < 0.01).