Deaths from domestic falls and fractures.

Fractures in the elderly and their relationship to osteoporosis and other causes of bone fragility have been the subject of increasing interest and studies show a similar sex and age incidence for certain types of fracture.

Abstract

Over the past 10 years fractures in the elderly and their relationship to osteoporosis and other causes of bone fragility have been the subject of increasing interest. The investigation of current incidence of morbidity by the Medical Research Council's Working Party on Fractures in the Elderly resulted in a report on the incidence of fractures in persons over 35 years of age by Knowelden, Buhr, and Dunbar (1964). Other important related studies have been by Buhr and Cooke (1959), Nordin, Mac Gregor, and Smith (1966), and Bollet (1968). All these studies show a similar sex and age incidence for certain types of fracture, particularly fractures of the femoral neck, of the upper part of the humerus, and of Pott's and Colles' types of fracture. The incidence of these fractures increases sharply over 55 years of age and the incidence in elderly women is two or three times that in men.