Nursing home residence and risk of hip fracture.

This population-based case-control study was performed to determine whether the high incidence of hip fractures in people living in nursing homes is explained by the generally poor physical and mental health status of institutionalized older people. The study, which was conducted between 1990 and 1991, involved 209 hip fracture cases and 207 controls randomly selected from the same population in Sydney, Australia. Data on potential confounders were collected by using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio for the association between nursing home residence and risk of hip fracture was 2.4 (95% confidence interval 1.4-4.3). However, after adjustment for multiple confounders, the odds ratio was 0.6 (95% confidence interval 0.2-1.6). It appears that living in a nursing home is not an independent risk factor for hip fracture.