Health scores linked to recovery after hip fracture surgery
A prospective cohort study of 1,796 older hip fracture patients followed for one year linked higher health scores to reduced mortality and better recovery.
Multicenter
Limit: Frailty and ASA physical status were not recorded, risking residual confounding
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In a prospective cohort study, researchers followed 1,796 patients aged 50 years or older who underwent surgery for a hip fracture at two medical centers in China. The team calculated scores for Life's Essential 8 and Life's Crucial 9 on the first day after hospital admission. Life's Crucial 9 adds an assessment of psychological health to the score.
Over one year of follow-up, 311 patients (17.3%) died. Life's Crucial 9 showed greater predictive accuracy than Life's Essential 8 for one-year mortality and free walking ability. Patients with low scores on either measure had elevated one-year death rates and reduced functional recovery. In multivariable analyses, higher scores on both measures were linked to significant reductions in mortality risk and improved functional recovery, independent of age, other illnesses, and surgical factors.
Why it matters
Hip fractures are a leading cause of disability and death among older adults. Assessing overall health alongside psychological well-being at hospital admission may help clinicians identify patients at high risk of poor outcomes and guide supportive care around surgery.
Caveats
The observational design means the study cannot show that improving health scores causes better surgical outcomes. The findings apply to patients aged 50 or older who underwent hip fracture surgery at two hospitals in China, and may not reflect outcomes in younger people, patients treated without surgery, or other populations.
From the paper
- Follow-up
During the 1-year follow-up period, 311 deaths occurred (17.3% overall mortality), with 171 deaths in Cohort 1 (17.4%) and 140 deaths in Cohort 2 (17.2%).
- Result
In Cohort 1, each 1-point increase in LE8 was associated with a 1.6% reduction in mortality risk (HR: 0.984; 95% CI: 0.970–0.999; P=0.038), while each 1-point increase in LC9 conferred a 7.5% risk reduction (HR: 0.925; 95% CI: 0.912–0.938; P<0.001).
- Events by group
In Cohort 1, the low LC9 group exhibited exceptionally high mortality rates: 8.33% at 3 months, 27.08% at 6 months, and 64.58% at 1 year, compared to 0.65%, 0.65%, and 1.94% respectively in the high LC9 group (all P<0.001).
- Limitation
First, the assessment of certain LE8 components relied on self-report or proxy report given the acute presentation of hip fracture, potentially introducing measurement error.
Quoted word for word from the full text on dovepress.com.
The paper
Shanghai East Hospital
Clinical Interventions in Aging, Oct 21, 2026, Open access
