A Community-Based Hip Fracture Registry: Population, Methods, and Outcomes

Introduction:Hip fracture is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. A large integrated health care system developed a registry to characterize its current patient population with hip fractures. This report describes the population, methods used, and outcomes of patients registered during the initial three years (2009–2011).Methods:Cases of hip fracture recorded from January 2009 through December 2011 were ascertained using the Kaiser Permanente Hip Fracture Registry. The registry collects information on patient, procedure, surgeon, facility, and surgical outcomes. Outcomes monitored included length of stay, readmissions, mortality, revisions, surgical site infections, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, pressure ulcers, dislocations, and myocardial infarction.Results:The population (N = 12,562) was predominantly white (77.8%), women (68.6%), and older (71.6% aged ≥ 75 years), and 32% had at least 5 comorbidities. The average length of follow-up was 1.1 years (standard deviation = 0.9). The most prevalent comorbidities were hypertension (70.8%) and anemia (29.4%). Femoral neck fractures (54.6%) were the most common fracture type. Hemiarthroplasty was the most common procedure (33.1%). Most fractures were treated by medium-volume (10 to 29 cases per year) surgeons (68.4%) at high-volume (≥ 130 cases per year) facilities (63.0%). The 90-day readmission rate was 22.1%, and the mortality rate was 12.3%. The most common postoperative complications were pneumonia (11.4%) and pressure ulcers (2.9%). There were 2.2 revisions per 100 observation years.Conclusion:A hip fracture registry provides important information regarding patient characteristics, intraoperative practices, and postoperative outcomes, which can be analyzed, interpreted, and used to reduce morbidity and mortality.