Patients
This was a retrospective cohort study of patients admitted to two Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) university-based tertiary-care hospitals with fragility hip fracture. Charts were reviewed for all 354 patients, age 50 years or older, admitted between March 1st 2003 and April 30th 2004, with a diagnosis of fragility hip fracture [22]. ICD-9 codes were used to determine patients admitted with hip fracture, and fragility fractures were defined as those resulting from minimal trauma, specifically, fall from a standing height or less [23] and were determined through chart review. Patients with pathological fractures secondary to malignancy or intrinsic bone disease (e.g. Paget's disease) were excluded. Patients were also excluded if they were transferred to an outside hospital for definitive treatment. Altogether, 12 charts were excluded (Figure (Figure1)1) and the final study cohort comprised 342 patients.