Fractuurpreventie en het gebruik van heupbeschermers bij ouderen: nog te vroeg voor aanbevelingen

- Hip fractures are a major health problem in the elderly.

- Several measures may reduce the number of hip fractures: prevention of falls, improving bone quality, and reducing the impact on the hip region during a fall; external hip protectors can be useful in this respect.

- Cluster-randomised studies have shown a significant reduction of hip fractures by 50 in elderly people wearing hip protectors who live in old-age homes or nursing homes and run an increased risk of falling.

- However, there is no evidence of a decreased number of hip fractures in studies in which individual randomisation was used.

- For elderly people living independently at home, there are still insufficient data on the effectiveness of hip protectors.

- An important problem with the use of hip protectors is the treatment compliance, which is generally very low. Many of the fractures in the intervention groups in published trials occurred at a time at which the protectors were not being worn.

- At present, there is too little evidence to decide definitely whether or not the use of hip protectors is useful.

Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 2005;149:1038-42