Good functional outcome but not regained health related quality of life in the majority of 20–69 years old patients with femoral neck fracture treated with internal fixation

Background and purpose Prospective studies on patient related outcome in patients Patients and methods 182 patients, 20–69 years with a FNF treated with internal fixation were prospectively included in a multicenter study. Follow up included radiographic and clinical examination at 4, 12 and 24 months. Collected data were hip function using Harris Hip Score (HHS), HRQoL (EQ-5D and SF-36), fracture healing and re-operations. Results At 24 months, HHS was good or excellent in 73% of the patients with a displaced fracture and 85% of the patients with a non-displaced fracture (p = 0.15). Of the patients with displaced fracture (n = 120), 23% had a non-union (NU) and 15% had an avascular necrosis (AVN) with a 28% re-operation rate. None of the patients with non-displaced fracture (n = 50) had an NU, 12% had a radiographic AVN and 8% needed a re-operation. The mean EQ-5Dindex in patients with displaced fracture decreased from 0.81 to 0.59 at 4 months, 0.63 at 12 months and 0.65 at 24 months (p Interpretation Two thirds of the patients with displaced femoral neck fracture healed after one operation and three quarters reported good or excellent functional outcome at 24 months. However, they did not regain their pre-fracture level of HRQoL.