In the past, our perception of the hazards of fractures was limited to pain, inability to move freely, and the need for plaster protection.
For the elderly, a fracture, especially a fracture of the femoral neck and femur, may mean the coming of death.
Everyone has the experience of falling, which may be just embarrassing for us, but seldom realize that it may be a near-death experience.
The old man falls, almost no one can escape
As the saying goes: the elderly are most afraid of falling.
According to data surveys, falls have become the leading cause of injury and death among elderly people aged 65 and above in China. The older the age, the higher the risk of death.
What’s even more frightening is that for the elderly in China, the incidence of falls is very high, reaching 20.7%, which means that there are nearly 40 million falls each year, On average, an elderly person falls to the ground every second.
The 1-year survival rate of esophageal cancer was 54.0%; the 1-year survival rate of breast cancer was 90.5%.
Why does a single fracture kill the elderly?
Older people die after fractures, not because of fractures.
But after the fracture occurred, he died of various other reasons. And when the patient dies, naturally even the chance of fracture is lost, so it is also called “the last fracture”!
Once the femur and tibia fractures in the elderly, the mortality rate can be as high as 50%. Even in areas with developed medical resources such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the elderly hip fractures who are treated conservatively will not survive a fracture. The annual mortality rate can reach 31.3%.
Why do fractures affect older people so badly?
Let’s take a look at the femur first. It actually refers to the thighbone that supports the human body. It is the thickest bone in the whole body. Only with the support of the femur can the human body Stand and move.
And at the proximal end of the femur, the other end of the hip. This part is very powerful when it is young, and a ruthless butt squat is not enough to cause damage to it!
As we age, the body’s internal bone is also losing, strong muscles gradually atrophy, and osteoporosis. As you get older, your bones will become more fragile. It is like a biscuit, and an inadvertent bump may cause fractures.
Isn’t it just a broken bone, can’t it be connected?
Treatment of fractures is easy for young people, but not so easy for older adults with proximal femur fractures.
Elderly people who want to undergo fracture surgery must first meet the surgical conditions, which include age, physical status, and whether there is a history of disease.
In addition, there will be bleeding during the operation, whether the blood loss can be tolerated, whether it can withstand the use of postoperative anticoagulant drugs, etc. These are all necessary conditions.
For the elderly in my country, most of them are troubled by chronic diseases of different degrees and types, especially the three highs, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases.
If the conditions are right, surgery is a good choice, but in reality, not every patient can undergo surgery smoothly.
Conservative treatment, is this not enough?
Conservative treatment is of course possible, but it seems safe and simple, but there are certain long-term risks, and it will also bring greater physical and mental torture to the elderly, and eventually leave in pain.
In particular, there are these two health risks:
1. Lung infection
Starting from bed rest for the elderly, lung The risk of infection is always there.
Due to people who are bedridden for a long time, it is extremely difficult to discharge the secretions from the lungs. These secretions will accumulate in the small and medium trachea for a long time, and they will become a happy place for cell reproduction.
These bacteria breed continuously and develop into hypostatic pneumonia, which may be fatal to bedridden patients once they appear.
2. Improper Nursing
The elderly are bedridden and have no medical knowledge. for bedsores.
At the same time, long-term bed rest can easily induce venous thrombosis of the lower extremities, and even pulmonary embolism develops from the shedding of venous thrombosis, which is fatal.
Every old man will fall down, and everyone will also have his old age one day.
Therefore, this “last time in life” is our common enemy.
If you and your family are still very young, please be proactive in preventing osteoporosis.
If there are elderly people at home, it is necessary to regularly check bone density, exercise reasonably, and reduce the hidden danger of falling.
If your elderly suffers a hip fracture unfortunately, fully communicate with the doctor, choose surgery as much as possible, and avoid staying in bed for a long time.
If you cannot choose surgery, you need to actively cooperate with medical staff in nursing care to prevent complications…
Everyone may face these question, and we need to remind you.
After all, the next time may be different.
References:
[1] Zhiming Lu, Pengpeng Ye, Yuan Wang, Leilei Duan, Yuliang Er. Characteristics of falls in the elderly – China, 2018[J]. China CDC Weekly, 2021, 3(4): 65-68.
[2] Cooper C, Campion G, Melton L J. Hip fractures in the elderly: a worldwide prediction[J] .Osteoporosis International, 1992,2(6):285-289.
[3] Zou Tianming, Huang Shizhong. Hip fractures in the elderly over 80 years old (with a clinical analysis of 78 cases)[J] . Chinese Journal of Gerontology, 1995, 14(2): 95-97.