Quality of life of the elderly after hip fracture surgery: a case-control study.

INTRODUCTION Hip fracture is common in the elderly. However, the quality of life of the elderly after hip fracture surgery has been largely ignored. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the quality of life of the elderly with and without history of hip fracture surgery. METHODS In a case-control study, 70 individuals with a history of hip fracture surgery at least three months before the study (case group) were compared with 70 elderly with the same specifications except the history of hip fracture (control group). The five-dimensional instrument of Euro Qol (EQ5D) was used to collect data. Chi-square test, t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and calculating the odds ratio were used for data analysis. RESULTS Compared to the control group, mobility, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression, health status, self-care, and level of activity were lower in patients with the history of hip fracture. The mean scores of quality of life were also significantly lower in the case group regardless of all demographic variables such as age, sex, living arrangements, income, marriage, level of education, and job. CONCLUSION The chance of undesirable quality of life in patients with a history of hip fracture surgery was 9.17 times greater than the elderly without a similar history. Therefore, developing supportive systems and rehabilitation facilities may improve patients' quality of life.