Fewer Days at Home After Hip Fracture Seen in Economically Deprived Areas

FRIDAY, Jan. 2, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Living in an economically deprived neighborhood is associated with fewer days at home in the following 12 months for older adults with fall-related hip fracture, according to a study published online Dec. 23 in JAMA Network Open.

Alyssa M. Baginski, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined the association between neighborhood deprivation and days spent at home after hip fracture in a cohort study analyzing a random sample of Medicare claims and assessment data for beneficiaries who experienced a fall-related hip fracture, underwent surgery, and were discharged alive to a nonhospice home or postacute care setting.

The analytic sample included 52,012 older adults (mean age, 82.2 years) with a fall-related hip fracture. The researchers found that those living in more deprived neighborhoods were more likely to identify as a member of a racial or ethnic minority group and be dually eligible for Medicaid compared to those in the least deprived neighborhoods. Adults in the most deprived areas spent 8.5 percent fewer days at home compared to adults living in the least deprived areas (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.92), and those in the middle Area Deprivation Index group spent 5 percent fewer days at home (IRR, 0.95). This resulted in an absolute difference of 22.8 days at home over the following year for patients in the most deprived neighborhoods.

“These findings point to the urgent need for community-tailored recovery programs and policy interventions that go beyond hospital walls,” senior author Jason R. Falvey, P.T., Ph.D., also from the University of Maryland Medical School, said in a statement.

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