Fractures Raise Mortality Rates in Seniors
August 4, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
As a nurse, I’ve seen it more times than I can remember. An older person, usually a woman, who was strong, active and on the ball, falls. The fall causes a broken hip. During the hospitalization, the woman starts to go downhill, memory and mental function may start dropping, physical issues that didn’t exist before begin to pop up and the woman becomes a shell of what she once was. Sadly, death isn’t unusual.
Why is that? Does this really happen or is it just anecdotal – an impression we have of what happens because of what we’ve seen?
Sadly, it is true and research is backing it up. Most recently was a 5-year study, the results of which were published in the most recent issue of the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Researchers studied 2187 men and 5566 women, over the age of 50 years, from across Canada. They were looking for information about fractures and their long-term effect. The researchers found what many in the medical field knew: one-quarter of those who broke a hip (both men and women) would die during the 5-year period after the fracture. If they fractured their spine, 16% would die.
Why is this?
A hip fracture is on the beginning. Someone who has broken a hip is now immobile, usually confined to bed. When you’re confined to bed, you can’t get up to eat if you’re hungry, to get something to drink if you’re thirsty. You can’t get up alone to go to the bathroom. You can’t get exercise to work up an appetite or to get your body going to get your bowels moving.
Because….
…you can’t exercise, your leg muscles get weaker.
….you can’t get out, you can become socially isolated.
….you have pain, your blood pressure may go up; if you have diabetes, your blood sugars may go up and down.
….you can’t move around, your skin may begin to break down
….the medication you have to take may make you drowsy and you may be prone to another fall if you try to get up, it may cause side effects, and so on.
So, you see that a fall and a fracture isn’t just a fall and a fracture. It involves so very much more.
So what do we do?
The only thing we can do is work on prevention. If someone you know is older and living alone, regular inspections of the living place is always a good idea. Check for:
loose scatter rugs- lifting edges of area rugs
- wires running across the room
- tripping hazards
- items too high out of reach
- stable grabbing bars in the bathroom
- medications that may make your loved one feel dizzy when they first get up
- medications that make your loved one get up to go to the bathroom at night
- insufficient lighting at night
There are many more safety issues, but this is a good place to start to work on fall prevention.
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Images courtesy PhotoXpress.com
I’ve learned from experience that falls/fratures can raise mortality rates in seniors.
My own great-grandparents both fell, my great-grandmother breaking her hip and my great-grandfather breaking his ribs. Sadly both passed away within a year of their fall.
I am currently going through a similar situation with my dear grandmother. She was once a very strong, very active women up to her mid-80’s, until she had a fall and received several fractures (both wrists, facial/nose and neck fractures). She also had an aquired brain injury. Since that fall (late 2006), she has slowly deteriorated. Though she didn’t break her hip, she broke other bones and has gone downhill since that fall, no longer being active, no longer able to care for herself.
I know her time is coming soon. As much as it upsets me and I know I will miss her dearly, I don’t think the life she’s living now is the she wants to live. She is a shell of herself. She has dementia, she can no longer knit, or play darts, or go bowling. She just sits all day and looks out the window, or naps. How incredibly sad. She always said she never wanted to be like this.
Oh Karen, I’m really sorry that this is happening. It’s so tough to watch.