OBJECTIVE: Hip fractures in patients older than 60 years old represent a serious morbidity linked to osteoporosis. Both genetic and environmental influences have been reported as important factors related to the epidemiology of osteoporosis. Sobral is located in the northeast of Brazil (3º41'10" S/40º20'59"E) and has 138,565 inhabitants, which are mostly descendants from white Portuguese and native Brazilian. METHODS: We evaluated the occurrence of hip fractures in Sobral between July/1996 and June/2000. This was a retrospective cohort based study. Data were obtained from the medical records of the Santa Casa de Sobral that is the reference hospital in this area. All chart records of patients aged more than 20 years old with a diagnosis of femoral or hip fracture were revised. RESULTS: A total of 79 fractures were identified. Ten (12.6%) cases that occurred in patients less than 50 years old were excluded from further analysis. Sixty-nine cases (87.3%) occurred in patients aged more than 50 years old comprising 19 (27.5%) men and 50 (72.4%) women giving an age-adjusted annual incidence rate of 5.59/10,000/ year in men and 12.4/10,000/year in women, respectively for people in this age range. Two patients, aged 79 and 82, died 9 and 6 days after hospital admission, respectively. The average time of hospitalization was 7.5 days (range 4-19 days). CONCLUSIONS: There was a tendency to a rise in the incidence of hip fractures in people older than 50 years old. Interestingly, the hip fracture rate in this population is considerably lower (around four times less) than the reported rates in white Caucasians.
osteoporosis; fracture; hip; epidemiology
