The relationship between temperature and hip and wrist fracture incidence

Abstract

Introduction Predicting when fracture incidence will rise assists in healthcare planning and delivery of preventative strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between temperature and the incidence of hip and wrist fractures. Methods Data for adults presenting to our unit with a hip or wrist fracture over a seven and eight-year period respectively were analysed. Incidence rates were calculated and compared with meteorological records. A Poisson regression model was used to quantify the relationship between temperature and fracture rate. Results During the respective study periods, 8,380 patients presented with wrist fractures and 5,279 patients were admitted with hip fractures. All women (≥50 years: p<0.001; <50 years: p<0.001) and men aged ≥50 years (p=0.046) demonstrated an increased wrist fracture rate with reduced temperature. Men aged <50 years also had an increased wrist fracture rate with increased temperature (p<0.001). The hip fracture rate was highest in women aged ≥50 years but was not associated with temperature (p=0.22). In men aged ≥50 years, there was a significant relationship between reduced temperature and increased fracture rate (p<0.001). Conclusions Fragility fracture of the wrist is associated with temperature. Compared with an average summer, an additional 840 procedures are performed for wrist fractures during an average winter in our trust with an additional 798 bed days taken up at a cost of £3.2 million. The winter increase seen in male hip fracture incidence requires approximately 888 surgical procedures, with 18,026 bed days, and costs £7.1 million. Hip fracture incidence in older women is not related to temperature.

Is Cold Apparent Temperature Associated With the Hospitalizations for Osteoporotic Fractures in the Central Areas of Wuhan? A Time-Series Study

“…We found significant association between low AT and the hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures in the current study. In view of the highly identity between AT and air temperature, the cold effect was consistent with previous studies focused on temperature and fractures ( 8 , 15 , 40 ). As early as 2004, a Hungarian study pointed out that the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D during spring (71%) was higher than that in summer (46.3%) ( 35 ), which may affect bone health due to the limited absorption of calcium increased bone resorption ( 41 ).…”

“…Our results showed that the females seemed to be more vulnerable to cold effect than males. The subgroup analysis of gender was similar with some earlier studies focusing on the relationship between temperature and osteoporotic fractures (8,35). A former study found the prevalence of low vitamin D disease associated with high incidence of osteoporosis was higher in females than males (35).…”

“…All-cause death risks in the elderly with 1 years of bone fracture will increase 10–20%, and less than half of them were able to return to pre-fracture activity levels ( 7 ). About 300,000 people suffered from osteoporotic fracture accounting for nearly 2 million hospital bed days in the UK every year ( 8 ). In the United States of America, more than 2 million cases for osteoporotic fracture were reported and over 20 billion dollars of direct health cost were occurred in just 1 year ( 9 ).…”

“…Fraenkel et al found the daily rates of osteoporotic hip fractures in winter (1.1 cases per day) were significantly higher than summer (0.79 cases per day), autumn (0.90 cases per day) and spring (0.91 cases per day) ( 15 ). Compare with summer, the number of operations, length of hospital stays and cost for osteoporotic fractures of wrist in males were greatly increased in winter ( 8 ). A study conducted in Spain revealed the incidence of hip fracture was significantly associated with the coldest time of the year ( 16 ).…”

Evaluation of Geriatric Fractures Admitted to the Emergency Department According to Years and Seasons

“…[16] In another study, it was reported that hip fractures in women over the age of 50 did not convey seasonal characteristics, and the incidence rates of hip and wrist fractures were higher in men in winter. [17] It has been indicated that incidence rates of the hip, distal forearm, humerus and ankle fractures increase in the winter in elderly individuals, but hip fractures show less seasonality than other fractures, and these fractures mostly develop as a result of domestic falls. [4] The incidence of fractures of the proximal humerus increases with age and have been observed more frequently in the winter months.…”