Costs of fragility hip fractures globally: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis

• Published in: Osteoporosis international Vol. 28; no. 10; pp. 2791 - 2800
• Main Authors: Williamson, S., Landeiro, F., McConnell, T., Fulford-Smith, L., Javaid, M. K., Judge, A., Leal, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01-10-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Costs; Endocrinology; Fracture Fixation - economics; Fracture Fixation - methods; Fractures; Health Care Costs - statistics & numerical data; Health Services Research - methods; Hip; Hip Fractures - economics; Hip Fractures - surgery; Hip joint; Hospitalization - economics; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Orthopedics; Osteoporotic Fractures - economics; Osteoporotic Fractures - surgery; Regression analysis; Review; Rheumatology; Studies; Systematic review; Meta-regression; Systematic review; Costs; Hip fracture
• ISSN: 0937-941X; 1433-2965
• DOI: 10.1007/s00198-017-4153-6

Purpose
This study was conducted in order to systematically review the costs of hip fractures globally and identify drivers of differences in costs.
Methods
A systematic review was conducted to identify studies reporting patient level fragility hip fracture costs between 1990 and 2015. We extracted data on the participants and costs from these studies. Cost data concerning the index hospitalisation were pooled, and a meta-regression was used to examine its potential drivers. We also pooled data on the first-year costs following hip fracture and considered healthcare, social care as well as other cost categories if reported by studies.
Results
One hundred and thirteen studies reported costs of hip fracture based on patient level data. Patients developing complications as well as patients enrolled in intervention arms of comparative studies were found to have significantly higher costs compared to the controls. The pooled estimate of the cost for the index hospitalisation was $10,075. Health and social care costs at 12 months were $43,669 with inpatient costs being their major driver. Meta-regression analysis identified age, gender and geographic region as being significantly associated with the differences in costs for the index hospitalisation.
Conclusion
Hip fracture poses a significant economic burden and variation exists in their costs across different regions. We found that there was a considerable variation across studies in terms of study design, methodology, follow-up period, costs considered and results reported that highlights the need for more standardisation in this area of research.