Incidence of hip fracture in Chiang Mai

The reported incidence of hip fracture varies to a large extent across regions. Most studies relied on hospital data under the assumption that nearly all cases of hip fracture get access to hospital care. As in many developing countries, a number of hip fracture cases in Thailand might not seek care in hospitals due to geographical, socio-cultural and financial barriers. Therefore, using hospital data alone, could lead to under estimation of the magnitude of hip fracture. This study was undertaken to obtain such information using a combined method of hospital discharge survey and a cross sectional community survey. It resulted in an estimated incidence of 151.2 per 100,000 (95% CI 136.7-167.2) from the hospital survey and 185.2 per 100,000 (95% CI 138.1-247.6) from the community survey. In comparison to developed countries, age-adjusted incidence of hip fracture in this study was markedly lower than that reported from developed countries. It was argued that different degree of urbanization might explain the discrepancy. This implicated promotion of physical activity as a public health measure to prevent hip fracture.