Trends in hip fracture rates in US male veterans.

Abstract

In the United States, the annual incidence of osteoporotic hip fracture is estimated to be 250,000 to 300,000; the one-year mortality in some studies has been as high as 32%. Reports that hip fracture rates in US women 65years and older may no longer be declining led to this investigation of hip fracture in men, a less studied population. We assessed the trends in the incidence of hip fracture in US male veterans 50years and older of age as well as the rates of diagnosis and treatment in such men. We assessed the recent trends of hip fracture incidence in a nation-wide male veteran population 50years and older of age. Using data from the US Veterans Affairs Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI) 2002-2019, we calculated the annual age-standardized hip fracture incidence. Secondary objectives included evaluating the annual proportion of hip fracture patients who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) before or after the fracture and/or received osteoporosis medication after the hip fracture over the study period. Hip fracture incidence increased in male veterans from 2006 to 2019. Fewer than 6% of men underwent a DXA scan and fewer than 0.5% received osteoporosis medications up to two years after a hip fracture. Despite available screening methods such as DXAs and medications for primary and secondary prevention of osteoporotic fractures, hip fracture incidence is not decreasing in older male veterans. Our study highlights a need for closerattention to fracture risk in men.