Injury
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Dementia and fall-related hip fractures both contribute significantly to the burden of illness within elderly populations in Australia and elsewhere. The research presented here uses a large probabilistically linked dataset from NSW, Australia to estimate the prevalence of dementia within hip fracture patients and investigate the impact of dementia on hospitalisation length of stay (LOS) and survival. ⋯ The use of linked datasets with tens of thousands of cases enables the calculation of precise estimates of various parameters. People with dementia constitute a significant proportion of the total population of elderly hip fracture patients in hospitals (up to 29%). Their mortality rate is greater than those without a diagnosis of dementia and their hospital length of stay is shorter, particularly if they are discharged to a residential aged care facility.
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Stable reconstruction of proximal femoral (PF) fractures is especially challenging due to the peculiarity of the injury patterns and the high load-bearing requirement. Since its introduction in 2007, the PF-locking compression plate (LCP) 4.5/5.0 has improved osteosynthesis for intertrochanteric and subtrochanteric fractures of the femur. This study reports our early results with this implant. ⋯ Early results for PF-LCP osteosynthesis show major complications in 7 of 19 patients requiring reosteosynthesis or prosthesis implantation due to secondary loss of reduction or hardware removal. Further studies are required to evaluate the limitations of this device.