| Summary: | 碩士 === 國防醫學院 === 公共衛生學研究所 === 87 === Abstract
The proportion of elderly people in our population is increasing. In addition to the threat of the chronic disease, injury is another major cause of death for elderly people. Elderly people are at high risk of fracture during the occurrence of injuries. Research article indicated that there are differences between the urban and the rural areas on the incidence of fracture. Since Taipei City and Hualien County are good representatives of urban and rural areas in Taiwan, the study was designed to compare between Taipei and Hualien on fracture locations, fracture types, length of stay and mortality among hospitalized fracture patients at age 65 or above. Data come from National Health Insurance Data base, covering 22 months from January 1996, to October 1997. The main findings are-
1. The percentages of fractures with external causes among were 47.1 in Taipei and 76 in Hualien. Among all external causes, the percentage of falls was higher in Taipei, whereas the percentage of motor vehicle accidents was higher in Hualien.
2. Hip fractures were the most frequently seen cases both in Taipei and Hualien. However, among all kinds of fractures the percentage of hip fractures was higher in Taipei, whereas the percentage of skull fracture was higher in Hualien.
3. Less than 8% of elderly fractures were compound fractures in both areas. Patients with compound fracture were mostly male, younger and injured by motor vehicle accidents.
4. Both in Taipei and Hualien mortality cases were counted for less than 2% among elderly fracture inpatients. Factors related to mortality of fracture inpatients identified from Taipei data were male, older age, skull fracture, hip fracture and compound fractures. There was no significant risk factor of fracture death identified from Hualien data.
Keywords: elderly people、fracture、hospitalization
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