A study has shown patients suffering hip fractures are less likely to survive if they’re discharged from hospital within five days.
The study, conducted by Umea University in Sweden and published in the British Medical Journal found that, compared with patients who spent 15 days or more recovering in hospital, those sent home within five days were twice as likely to die during the follow-up period.
The findings come amid concerns that hospitals are being placed under increasing pressure to free up beds as quickly as possible, which could mean that patients are being sent home too early.
Lead author of the study, Peter Nordström, a Professor of Geriatrics, said: “Our results suggest that the continuous efforts to decrease length of stay after major surgery is associated with higher mortality after hospital discharge.”
Hip fractures in elderly patients are a major cause of disability and are associated with an increased risk of death. There are approximately 70,000-75,000 hip fractures in the UK every year, with 80 being the average age of a patient. Women are believed to be at greater risk as they are more likely to suffer from osteoporosis.
Researchers analysed 116,111 Swedish residents for the study, aged 50 years and over and admitted to hospital with hip fractures between 2006 and 2012. The length of stay in hospital and number of deaths during and after hospital admission were all taken into account as well as any other health conditions, the type of hip fracture suffered, surgery, medications and socioeconomic status.
The results revealed that the average hospital stay fell from 14.2 days in 2006 to 11.6 days in 2012 and it is probable that this will be in line with other high income countries in Europe, including Britain.
5,863 (5%) patients died during their stay in hospital, 6,377 (5.5%) people died within 30 days of being discharged and 30,053 (25.9%) people died within one year of the fracture. Further, those sent home within five days had twice the risk of death in the 6 year follow-up period of the study, indicating that the two weeks proceeding an injury was crucial to a person’s long-term health.
The authors argued that cutting the length of hospital stays could lead to further problems down the line and additional healthcare costs.
Peter Cram, Professor of Medicine said: “As clinicians we should be aware that, although hospitals are scarce resources, rapid discharge of patients should be considered carefully.”