The orthogeriatric comanagement improves clinical outcomes of hip fracture in older adults

Treatment of older adults with hip fracture is a healthcare challenge. Orthogeriatric comanagement that is an integrated model of care with shared responsibility improves time to surgery and reduces the length of hospital stay and mortality compared with orthopedic care with geriatric consultation service and usual orthopedic care, respectively.

Introduction: Treatment of fractures in older adults is a clinical challenge due partly to the presence of comorbidity and polypharmacy. The goal of orthogeriatric models of care is to improve clinical outcomes among older people with hip fractures. We compare clinical outcomes of persons with hip fracture cared according to orthogeriatric comanagement (OGC), orthopedic team with the support of a geriatric consultant service (GCS), and usual orthopedic care (UOC).

Methods: This is a single-center, pre-post intervention observational study with two parallel arms, OGC and GCS, and a retrospective control arm. Hip fracture patients admitted to the trauma ward were assigned by the orthopedic surgeon to the OGC (n = 112) or GCS (n = 108) group. The intervention groups were compared each with others and both with the retrospective control group (n = 210) of older adults with hip fracture. Several clinical indicators are considered, including time to surgery, length of stay, in-hospital, and 1-year mortality.

Results: Patients in the OGC (OR 2.62; CI 95% 1.40-4.91) but not those in the GCS (OR 0.74; CI 95% 0.38-1.47) showed a higher probability of undergoing surgery within 48 h compared with those in the UOC. Moreover, the OGC (β, - 1.08; SE, 0.54, p = 0.045) but not the GCS (β, - 0.79; SE, 0.53, p = 0.148) was inversely associated with LOS. Ultimately, patients in the OGC (OR 0.31; CI 95 % 0.10-0.96) but not those in the GCS (OR 0.37; CI 95% 0.10-1.38) experienced a significantly lower 1-year mortality rate compared with those in the UOC. All analyses were independent of several confounders.

Conclusions: Older adults with hip fracture taken in care by the OGC showed better clinical indicators, including time to surgery, length of stay and mortality, than those managed by geriatric consultant service or usual orthopedic care.