In 1922, Kellogg Speed, MD said in his American College of Surgeons address, “We enter the world under the brim of the pelvis and exit through the neck of the femur.” Since then, it has been repeatedly shown that femoral-neck and intertrochanteric hip fractures are associated with a high mortality rate during the first year following fracture. Now, in the era of widespread hip arthroplasty—and with the consequently increasing rates of periprosthetic fractures near the hip joint—it is relevant to ask whether periprosthetic fractures are associated with an increased risk of mortality similar to that seen after native hip fractures. In the April 4, 2018 issue of The Journal, Boylan et al. use the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database to address that question.
The authors reviewed 8 years of native and periprosthetic hip fracture data to determine whether the 1-month, 6-month, and 12-month mortality risk between the two patient cohorts was similar. They found that the 1-month mortality risk in the two groups was similar (3.2% for periprosthetic fractures and 4.6% for native fractures). However, there were significant between-group differences in mortality risk at the 6-month (3.8% for periprosthetic vs 6.5% for native) and 12-month (9.7% vs 15.9%) time points.
This makes clinical sense because, in general, patients experiencing a native hip fracture have lower activity levels and general fitness and higher levels of comorbidity than patients who have received a total hip arthroplasty. Extensive research has resulted in protocols for lowering the risk of mortality associated with native hip fractures, such as surgery within 24 to 48 hours, optimizing medical management through geriatric consultation, and safer and more effective rehabilitation strategies. We need similar research to develop effective perioperative protocols for patients experiencing a periprosthetic fracture, as this study showed that 1 out of 10 of these patients does not survive the first year after sustaining such an injury. I also agree with the authors’ call for more research to identify patients with periprosthetic fractures who are “at risk of worse outcomes at the time of initial presentation to the hospital.”
Marc Swiontkowski, MD
JBJS Editor-in-Chief