Background Hip fractures are regarded as a worldwide epidemic and a major public health concern. Changing risk factors, local differences and temporal trends contribute to the particular epidemiology of hip fractures. This overview gives a comprehensive insight into the epidemiology of hip fractures and reviews where German data have contributed to the literature. Methods The review of the epidemiology of hip fractures in Germany is based on a systematic literature search in PubMed. Information about the global epidemiology of hip fractures was provided by a selective literature review focusing on specific aspects of the epidemiology of hip fractures. Results Hip fracture rates vary more than 100-fold between different countries. In most high-income countries, a rise in age-standardized hip fracture rates was observed until the 1980s and 1990s and a decrease thereafter. Such a decrease has not been observed for Germany so far. Many factors, diseases and drugs have been found to be associated with hip fractures and there is some evidence that fracture risk in later life is already programmed during fetal life and early childhood. Of the hip fracture burden 50% occur in people with disability and in need of care. In nursing homes approximately 4 fractures can be expected in 100 women per year. In people with intellectual or developmental disabilities comparable risks of hip fracture occur 10–40 years earlier than in the general population. Incidence of disability, institutionalization and death are frequent consequences of hip fractures. Conclusion The epidemiology of hip fractures is characterized by a high burden of disease, local differences, temporal trends, well-defined high-risk populations and many established risk factors. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00391-018-1382-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

We found that incident OAF costs will sharply increase until the year 2050. As a consequence, a growing demand for long-term care as well as hospital care can be expected and should be considered in future healthcare planning. To support decision makers in managing the future burden of OAF, our model allows to economically evaluate population- and risk group-based interventions for fracture prevention in Germany.

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether a 24-hr recording period is sufficient to describe physical activity (PA) of 1 week for intraindividual comparison in older adults. Furthermore, the authors analyzed whether physical performance can be used as a surrogate marker of PA. PA was captured on 7 consecutive days by a body-fixed sensor in 44 community-dwelling older adults (80.75 ± 4.05 yr). Mean times of walking and of “time on feet” of the group were 10.2 hr (± 3.5) and 35.1 hr (± 9.43), respectively. Intraindividual variabilities of walking and of time on feet were 31.9% ± 10.79% and 19.4% ± 8.76%, respectively. Accumulated time of variables of PA showed no differences between weekdays, with variabilities of 3.8% and 1.8% for walking and time on feet, respectively. Association between Short Physical Performance Battery and PA was limited (walkingr= .397, time on feetr= .41).

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BackgroundImpaired balance is a major problem in patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) resulting in an increased risk of falls and fall-related fractures. Most studies which analyzed the risk of femoral fractures in patients with idiopathic PD were performed either in specialized centers or excluded very frail patients. The current study used a large population-based dataset in order to analyze the risk of femoral fractures in patients with idiopathic PD.MethodsData from more than 880.000 individuals aged 65 years or older and insured between 2004 and 2009 at a large German health insurance company were used for the analyses. Persons with idiopathic PD were identified by the dispensing of Parkinson-specific medication and by hospital diagnoses, if available. People without PD served as the reference group. Incident femoral fractures were obtained from hospital diagnoses. Analyses were stratified by gender and information on severe functional impairment (care need) as provided by reimbursement claims.ResultsCompared with the reference group, persons with idiopathic PD had a more than doubled risk to sustain a femoral fracture. The risk was higher in men (HR = 2.61; 95%-CI: 2.28–2.98) than in women (HR = 1.79; 95%-CI: 1.66–1.94). The increased risk was only observed in people without severe functional impairment. The sensitivity analysis using a refined definition of idiopathic PD patients yielded similar results.ConclusionThe findings confirm the increased risk of femoral fractures in patients with idiopathic PD. The relative risk is particularly high in male PD patients and in patients without severe functional impairment.