This study investigated the current incidence of hip fractures in Okinawa prefecture and compared the data with those obtained in our previous study, which was conducted using similar methods in 1987/1988. All patients, aged 50 years or older and residing in Okinawa, admitted to Okinawa hospitals in 2004 for a fresh hip fracture were identified from hospital registries. Details were obtained from the medical records and radiographs of all patients and classified according to fracture type (cervical or trochanteric), age, sex, and fracture location. Subtrochanteric fractures and pathological fractures were excluded. A total of 1,349 patients (242 men and 1,107 women) were admitted for a fresh hip fracture in 2004. Their average age was 76.9 years for men and 82.4 years for women. There were 671 cervical fractures, 654 trochanteric fractures, and 24 unclassified proximal femoral fractures. Comparing the data from 1987/1988 to those from 2004, the total number of hip fractures increased by 188%, from 469 to 1,349. The age-adjusted incidence rates per 100,000, standardized to the 2000 US population, were 75.7 and 296.1 in 1987/1988 and 123.6 and 420 in 2004 for men and women, respectively. The incidence rates in all age groups (at 5-year intervals) were higher in 2004 than in 1987/1988, indicating that people 50 years of age or older became more susceptible to hip fractures. Accordingly, the accretion of the hip fracture incidence rate was greater than that which could be explained purely by changes in population size and structure.

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