Dementia,Delirium and other Comorbid Conditions in Acute Hip Fracture Care — Traditions,Attitudes and Local Policies Rather Than Actual State Guide Diagnose Making?

In the elderly, hip fracture is a common disease. Previous studies show that more than half of these patients has a co-existing dementia and/or delirium diagnose. We found a cognitive disorder diagnose code registered in only 11% of 14,993 hip fracture patients, 65 years or older, in Stockholm, Sweden during 1994–1999. Although most common in the clinical setting, acute confusional state (delirium) was hardly ever diagnose-coded (1%). Furthermore, the share of dementia/delirium registrations ranged from 6 to 17% between hospitals and within a single hospital from 1 to 20 %. The lack of pattern in diagnosis coding became even more evident in the patients who were transferred from acute care to geriatric rehabilitation — it was unusual that the diagnosis was given at both specialities. Also regarding secondary diagnoses on the whole, large differences on hospital level was found (range 0.4 – 2.2/patient). The over all impression of the findings was that recording of comorbid conditions in acute somatic care depends on other factors than the patient's actual state such as traditions, attitudes and local policies (or the lack thereof). In conclusion, significant conditions crucial for planning, treatment and prognosis in the hip fracture population are virtually invisible in this administrative database.