Background

Daily functioning is known to decline after a hip fracture, but studies of self-reported functioning before the fracture suggest this decline begins before the fracture.

Objective

Determine whether change in functioning in the year before a hip fracture in very old (80+) differs from change in those without a hip fracture.

Design

Two-stage individual patient data meta-analysis including data from the Towards Understanding Longitudinal International older People Studies (TULIPS)-consortium.

Setting

Four population-based longitudinal cohorts from the Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK.

Subjects

Participants aged 80+ years.

Methods

Participants were followed for 5 years, during which (instrumental) activities of daily living [(I)ADL] scores and incident hip fractures were registered at regular intervals. Z-scores of the last (I)ADL score and the change in (I)ADL in the year before a hip fracture were compared to the scores of controls, adjusted for age and sex.

Results

Of the 2,357 participants at baseline, the 161 who sustained a hip fracture during follow-up had a worse (I)ADL score before the fracture (0.40 standard deviations, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.61, P = 0.0002) and a larger decline in (I)ADL in the year before fracture (-0.11 standard deviations, 95% CI -0.22 to 0.004, P = 0.06) compared to those who did not sustain a hip fracture.

Conclusions

In the very old a decline in daily functioning already starts before a hip fracture. Therefore, a hip fracture is a sign of ongoing decline and what full recovery is should be seen in light of the pre-fracture decline.

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.