Certain racial and socioeconomic groups are at a disadvantage when it comes to hip fracture care, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Las Vegas, March 24 to March 28.
Investigators investigated information available for nearly 200,000 patients in a New York state database.
According to the study:
• African American patients had a 55 percent increased risk for delayed surgery.
• They were 18 percent more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 90 days.
• They had a 12 percent higher risk of dying within one year as compared to Caucasian patients.
• Also, Medicaid patients had a 15 percent increased risk for delayed surgery.
• Patients from the most impoverished communities were at a 26 percent risk for delayed surgery, and they were at a 14 percent risk of dying within one year of hip fracture surgery.