Editorial on "Comprehensive geriatric care for patients with hip fractures: a prospective, randomized, controlled trial" published in The Lancet on April 25(th), 2015.
A third of elderly adults fall every year, many leading to hip fractures with a 24% mortality rate just within the first year. As a growing number of the US population approaches old age, these hip fractures are expected to cost the US over 25 billion annually. In the near future, physicians will need to not only improve the treatment for a larger patient population but also reduce the medical costs associated. The authors in this paper sought to determine whether specialized geriatric care positively impacted patient outcome compared to standard orthopaedic care for hip fractures. The study found that geriatric care significantly increased patient mobility within 4 months after hip fracture and will likely reduce overall medical costs. Similar studies have shown promising results as well. Moving forward, geriatric fracture programs need more prospective randomized trials to determine the effectiveness of these programs to increase patient quality while also reducing overall medical costs. This study in correlation with others further demonstrates the importance and need of specialized geriatric programs in the US.