January 2014 Vol. 2 No.1

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Full Length Research Paper

The orthopaedic quandary of hip fractures in patients with Alzheimer’s disease require appropriate prevention strategy

¹Yassin Mustafa M.D., ²Heib Aysha MPH, ³Garti Avraham M.D. and ²*Prof. Dr. Bowirrat Abdalla M.D., Ph.D

¹Head of the Joint Replacement Unit, Department of Orthopaedic, Rabin Medical Center, Campus Hasharon, Israel.
²EMMS Nazareth Hospital, Nazareth, Zip code: 16100, Israel
²*Professor of Clinical Neuroscience and Population Genetics, EMMS Nazareth Hospital, Nazareth, Zip code: 16100, Israel.
³Rabin Medical Center, Head of the Department of Orthopaedic, Campus Hasharon, Israel

*Corresponding Author's E-mail: Prof.Bowirrat@yahoo.com; Tel: +972 4635-6133; Fax: +972 4602-8882; Mobile: +972 50-720-8143

Accepted January 06, 2014

Abstract

Elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are subject to high incidence of hip fracture, especially in elderly female patients. The devastating and progressive consequences of AD are numerous and have unconstructive impacts in the whole body function; Psychological problems such as memory impairments; judgment deficiency; failure of the topographical orientation – characterized by the inability to orient oneself in one’s surroundings as a result of dementia which lead to the disability or inability to make use of selective spatial information (e.g., environmental landmarks) or to orient by means of specific cognitive strategies such as the ability to form a mental representation of the environment (visuospatial dysgnosia) – other vital penalties are observed among AD patients such as the loss of activity of daily living, the failure of adequate motor function which cause together with other symptoms to movement instability (falls), orthopedic injuries and instigate a state of mental incapacity and motor unsteadiness among AD patients. Many other metabolic factors such as Hypovitaminosis D and K due to malnutrition or sunlight deprivation, increased bone reabsorption due to immobilization, and low bone mineral density (BMD) can increase the risk of falls and may contribute to an increase risk of hip fractures in patients with neurological diseases in general and especially AD patients. The purpose of this study is to shed light on this quandary, and to evaluate the risk of hip fracture in patients with AD by looking for prevention strategies capable to reduce the risk of hip fractures in patients with such neurological disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Hip fracture, Risk factors, Prevention strategies.