Hip fracture in the elderly: The effect of anesthetic technique

Seven hundred forty-nine community-dwelling, previously ambulatory, elderly patients who sustained a femoral neck or intertrochanteric fracture underw ent prospective follow-up to determine whether anesthetic technique (spinal or general) had an effect on inpatient morbidity and mortality, or 1-year mortality. One hundred seven patients were excluded from the study as the a nesthetic technique was "predetermined" based on a underlying medical condi tion. Of the remaining 642 patients, 362 (56.4%) received general and 280 ( 43.6%) received spinal anesthesia. Twenty (3.1%) patients died during hospi talization; 73 (11.4%) patients developed one or more postoperative medical complications. The 1-year mortality rate was 12.1%. There was no differenc e in inpatient morbidity and mortality, or 1-year mortality rates between p atients receiving general or spinal anesthesia.