Prospective Evaluation of Quality of Life and Function after Surgical Management of Femoral Neck Fractures in Elderly Patients

Abstract

Background: The surgical management of femoral neck fractures is primarily done using internal fixation (IF), hemiarthroplasty (HA) or total hip replacement (THR). These surgical procedures effectively improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and function in these patients. The present study was conducted to determine quality of life (QOL) and function in elderly patients following operative treatment of fracture of the neck of the femur using known indicators. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, longitudinal study conducted on 60 consecutive patients treated surgically for femoral neck fracture with either of the procedures IF, HA and THR. The telephonic interview was conducted at 1, 3 and, 6 months post-operative to evaluate the quality of life using patient-rated outcome measure namely short form – 12 (SF - 12) Health Survey and Health-related quality of life (HRQOL -14 “Healthy Days Measure”. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 75.8± 7.1 years. In this study the physical (p=0.001), mental component (p=0.003) and, q value (p=0.001) of SF-12 scores were significantly improved at 3 and 6 months postoperative as compared to 1 month postoperative. Further, there was significant improvement of HRQOL-14 outcome scores 3 and 6 months postoperative as compared to 1 month postoperative. Conclusion: The present study concludes with compelling evidence that patients with femoral neck fractures experienced a significant deterioration in health-related quality of life one-month post-surgery and there was marked improvement in the subsequent follow up months.