A revision study was performed on the proximal femoral fractures mortality in elderly patients, based on the most relevant publications during the 1998 to 2002 period. Twenty-five articles related to the subject were included, selected from the Medline and Cochrane databases, totaling 24.062 patients over the age of 60 years, with fracture of the proximal femur. There were 14 prospective trials, 8 retrospective and 3 were systematic reviews. The mean in-hospital mortality was 5,5%, 1-month mortality 4,7%, 3-months 11,9%, 6-months 10,8%, 1-year 19,2% and 2-years 24,9%. Four factors were identified in these patients closely related with a larger number of deaths: advanced age, polymorbidity, male gender and the presence of cognitive impairment. Other factors, such as a pre-fracture walking ability, ASA score, hemoglobin level, albumin level, lymphocyte count and a previous stroke demonstrated poor correlation with mortality. Finally, factors like time-to-surgery, anesthetic techniques and type of osteosynthesis, had no effect on mortality.
Femoral fractures; Aged; Mortality
