Incidence of clinical vertebral fractures and hip fractures of the elderly (65 years or over) population—large-scale data analysis using claim database in Kure City, Hiroshima, Japan

Summary Using the claim database, we investigated the incidence rate of clinical vertebral fractures per 1,000 in the elderly residents, over 65 years of age, in Kure city. The incidence rate, of clinical vertebral fractures, was 15.58 (7.29 male, 21.17 female, 2.90 female/male ratio). Purpose To elucidate the incidence of clinical vertebral and hip fractures using the claim database, in those over 65 years of age in Kure city, and to compare with the previous reports. Methods We used, for residents in 2015, the medical care information of the National Health Insurance or Senior Elderly Care System in Kure City (Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan). Those with vertebral fractures as disease name, and either treatment/operation/hospitalization were defined as clinical vertebral fractures. Among the claim database, we extracted the clinical vertebral fracture and investigated the number of occurrences and the incidence rate per 1,000. We also investigated the incidence rate of hip fractures and compared those to the clinical vertebral fractures. Result The incidence rate of clinical vertebral fractures of the elderly population (65 years or over) per 1,000 was 15.58 (7.29 male, 21.17 female, 2.90 female/male ratio). In both men and women, the incidence rate increased with aging. The incidence rate of hip fractures per 1,000 was 9.17 (3.55 male, 12.96 female, 3.65 male/female ratio). Clinical vertebral fractures were more frequent than hip fractures, and the ratio of incidence rate of vertebral fractures to hip fractures was 1.70 (male, 2.05, female, 1.63). For both fractures, the incidence rate increases with age, apart from the women where the incidence of vertebral fracture reduces slightly in the older age group Conclusion This is the first report that investigated the incidence rate of the clinical vertebral fractures using the claim database, which covered almost the whole number of 230,000 population area.