Alzheimer's Disease Increases the Incidence of Hospitalization Due to Fall-related Bone Fracture in Elderly Chinese

Abstract

Summary Background The risk of falls and fractures caused by falls is higher for older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) than for older adults without dementia. This main aim of this study was to investigate the influence of AD on the incidence of hospitalization due to fall-related bone fracture in elderly Chinese patients. A secondary aim was to investigate whether AD has an effect on fracture location. Methods Patients aged ≧65 years who were hospitalized at a tertiary hospital in north China from 2002 to 2012 were recruited. Consecutive patients with the diagnosis of AD at discharge were compared with an age-matched control group of patients without dementia. Results The study included 345 AD patients and 1380 controls. The proportion of patients in the AD group hospitalized because of fall-related bone fracture (15.7%) was significantly higher than in the control group (2.4%). Multivariate analysis showed that age and osteoporosis increased the risk of hospitalized AD patients having a history of bone fracture. There was no significant difference in fracture location between the groups. Conclusion On the basis of our findings, we conclude that AD may increase the incidence of hospitalization due to falls and bone fracture. We also found that AD has no effect on fracture location, but larger studies are needed to confirm this finding. Physicians and family members should emphasize the possibility of falls and bone fracture in patients with AD. Our findings suggest that preventing falls in AD patients may reduce the number of hospitalized AD patients.