Association between Clinical Frailty Scale and Risk of Hip Fractures among Geriatric Population

Abstract

Background The study aims to identify the association between frailty and risk of hip fracture among the geriatric population admitted in the orthopaedic wards of tertiary care hospitals for the procedure of hip arthroplasty to determine if the cause of hip fracture is underlying frailty as estimated using a Clinical Frailty Scale. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in the orthopedic ward of a tertiary care hospital, involving a total of 345 geriatric individuals who were admitted due to a hip fracture. The study examined various factors related to hip fractures in individuals aged 65 years and above, encompassing both males and females. Results The association between clinical frailty scale and hip fracture were determined, and the findings revealed that 34.78% of the participants who had suffered from hip fracture had a clinical frailty score of 7 which is severely frail, whereas 29.85% had a clinical frailty score of 6 (moderately frail), 21.7% were at 5 (mildly frail), 3.76% were at a score of 4 (vulnerable), 2.89% were at a score of 3 (managing well), 2.31 at a score of 2 (well) and 1.73% who suffered from hip fracture were not frail at all and found at a score of 1 (very well). Conclusion A higher frailty score is associated with a higher risk of hip fracture among the older adult population. Keywords Geriatrics, Hip fracture, Frailty, Orthopedics.