Characterization of femoral fractures hospital discharge rate in Chile between 2018-2021

Introduction: Femoral Fractures (FF) are a frequent cause of emergency department visits. FF can be anatomically classified, and its relationship with factors such as age, sex, trauma mechanism, comorbidities, among others, have been described. Currently, there are no studies in Chile that describe the complete and updated national epidemiology. Materials and Methods: This ecological descriptive study describes the hospital discharge rate (HDR) of FF per 100,000 inhabitants by sex, age group, and type of FF (ICD-10) between 2018-2021 in Chile (N=46,355). Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the HDR. Ethical committee approval was not required. Results: The HDR was calculated at 65.94 per 100,000 inhabitants between 2018-2021, with the highest rate in 2018 at 68.04. The HDR for females and males was 84.79 and 46.28, respectively. The age group with the highest HDR was 80 and above, with 1190.32. The most common type of FF was Neck (S72.0), followed by Unspecified (S72.9), and Pertrochanteric (S72.1) in third place. Discussion: The HDR trend is decreasing compared to other studies, indicating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This may be associated with the use of the Unspecified classification (S72.9), which involves an initial underdiagnosis of other types of FF. The trends in age, sex, and type of FF align with the existing literature.