New hip fractures add £1.1 billion to the cost of running hospitals each year in the UK, a study has found.
Researchers who came up with the figure warned that it was expected to increase dramatically as the proportion of elderly people in the population increased.
The team analysed data from 33,152 hip fracture patients with an average age of 83, of whom three quarters were women.
Each hip fracture cost a hospital an extra £10,964 in the first year after the injury, the study showed.
Lead author Dr Jose Leal, from the Health Economics Research Centre at Oxford University, said: "The impact of hip fractures is very significant. The UK population is ageing and unless action is taken to prioritise fracture prevention, the cost of treating fractures in the senior population will continue to rise dramatically in the future.
"To reduce the costs of fractures we need to identify and invest in cost-effective approaches and incentives aimed at preventing avoidable fractures and improving the quality of life in these elderly populations.
"Fracture liaison services in hospitals and clinics have been shown to be a way forward as approximately half of the patients who are treated in hospital for hip fracture - the most costly, serious and even life-threatening type of fractures - have had a previous fracture of some kind. That first fracture was a 'warning' that should have triggered testing and treatment."
The findings are reported in the journal Osteoporosis International.
Experiencing a second hip fracture, hip fracture-related complications, and breaking other bones were the main cost drivers in the first year following a hip fracture, said the researchers.
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