AB114. SOH22ABS140. Fragility fractures are a leading presentation to the emergency department requiring admission and a large illness burden in Ireland: an analysis of the hospital in-patient enquiry system
Orthopaedic Session II

AB114. SOH22ABS140. Fragility fractures are a leading presentation to the emergency department requiring admission and a large illness burden in Ireland: an analysis of the hospital in-patient enquiry system

David O’Sullivan1, John Carey2, Bernie McGowan2, Brian Whelan3, Michael O’Sullivan2, Amina Gsel2, Fiona Heaney2, Catherine Armstrong2, Bridgette Connaughton2

1Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Galway University Hospitals, Galway, Ireland; 2Department of Rheumatology, Galway University Hospitals, Galway, Ireland; 3Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Sligo University Hospital, Sligo, Ireland

Background: Osteoporosis results in millions of fragility fractures (FF) worldwide each year. The burden of illness is similar to or greater to other common diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. Recent data suggests public hospital fragility fracture bed days are increasing in the Republic of Ireland (RoI), despite an almost 30% reduction in capacity during the same time period.

Methods: Data on the seventeen most frequently coded diagnoses for emergency admissions to public hospitals in the RoI between 2010 and 2016 were extracted using The International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 coding from the H.I.P.E. portal. Extracted data include number of admissions, hospital bed days and mean length of stay. Data were summarised, grouped, and graphed to enable comparisons between diagnoses, admissions, length of stay and total annual bed days.

Results: A total of 946,217 admissions accounting for 6,044,055 bed days were recorded between 2010 and 2016. Femoral fractures accounted for 3.1% and forearm fractures accounted for 3.6% of admissions. Fracture of the femur had the longest mean length of stay at 17.6 days, followed by stroke at 17.4 days, whilst fracture of the forearm was 2.7 days. Fracture of the femur and forearm together accounted for 10% of total bed days.

Conclusions: FF represent a very large and growing problem in older Irish adults and a significant burden on our healthcare system. Urgent action is needed to address this enormous public health problem, and the standard of care for those with fractures.

Keywords: Fragility fractures (FF); health economics; Ireland; length of stay; osteoporosis

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-22-ab114
Cite this abstract as: O’Sullivan D, Carey J, McGowan B, Whelan B, O’Sullivan M, Gsel A, Heaney F, Armstrong C, Connaughton B. AB114. SOH22ABS140. Fragility fractures are a leading presentation to the emergency department requiring admission and a large illness burden in Ireland: an analysis of the hospital in-patient enquiry system. Mesentery Peritoneum 2022;6:AB114.

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