Femoral Neck Fracture in Highly Aged Patients with Dementia

Abstract

311 inpatients in a geriatric nursing hospital were interviewed and activities of daily life, etc. were studied. Out of 311 inpatients, 59 had femoral neck fracture in the past, and 43 patients (95.6%) were classified as having dementia. Out of 67 fractures of 59 patients, 40 fractures of 36 patients had received operations and 27 fractures of 26 patients had conservative treatment. According to the results of this study, although the ADL level of both groups were low, the operation group had a better prognosis than the conservative group. Patients who had conservative treatments were older and had lower levels of daily life, had severer dementia and lived smaller range of activities than patients who undergone operations. Furthermore, inpatients of the conservative treatment group had little desire for active treatments and rehabilitation, so they had many factors predicative of poor prognosis. However, in the conservative treatment group, some inpatients could walk with or without assistance even though their fractures didn’t unite. With the increase in the aged population, the chance of conservative treatment is likely to increase, and rehabilitation will play a key role for such patients in order to improve the quality of their lives.