Fractures After Stroke

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Stroke patients may have an increased risk of fractures because of weak bones or an increased risk of falling. Our goal was to estimate the frequency of fracture after stroke and to identify those at greatest risk. METHODS: This study incorporated 2 complementary strategies: a prospective, single-center, cohort study and an analysis of Scottish routine hospital discharge data. RESULTS: Eighty-eight fractures (30% hip) occurred in 2696 hospital-referred stroke patients. The proportions sustaining any fracture or hip fracture within 2 years were 4% and 1.1%, respectively, 1.4 (95% CI, 0.92 to 2.07) times the rate of hip fracture in the general population (ie, observed number divided by expected number or standardized morbidity ratio). Female sex, older age, low abbreviated mental test score, and prestroke dependence were associated with an increased hip fracture rate. Routine data identified 129 935 acute stroke patients admitted to Scottish hospitals. During 363 447 patient-years, 4528 patients had hip fractures, 2.0% had fractures by 1 year, and 10.6% had fractures by 10 years. This is 1.7 times the rate of hip fracture in the general population and 2.3 times that in patients with myocardial infarction. Older patients predictably had the highest rate of poststroke hip fractures but a lower standardized morbidity ratio than younger patients. CONCLUSIONS: Fractures after stroke are probably frequent and serious enough to justify the development of preventive strategies, but the modest event rate would mean that randomized, controlled trials to test these strategies specifically in stroke patients would need to enroll thousands of patients.