To the Editor,
We read with interest the article “What was the Epidemiology and Global Burden of Disease of Hip Fractures From 1990 to 2019? Results From and Additional Analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019” by Dong et al [1], in which the authors used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019 to provide a clearer picture of the incidence and burden of hip fractures, and found that hip fractures are common, devastating to patients, and economically burdensome to healthcare systems globally, with falls being the leading cause. We appreciate the efforts of the authors to shed light on this valuable and instructive topic for health policy. However, there was one question that we would like to ask.
Data sources for the disease burden were collected using the Global Health Data Exchange online data source query tool (http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool). However, we found that information on hip fractures were not available on this site. A recent GBD study regarding bone fractures used data from the US National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/data-sources-and-methods/data-sources/national-hospital-ambulatory-medical-care-survey-nhamcs) to estimate the ratio of inpatient to outpatient incidence [2]. Therefore, we would like to know whether the authors merged resources from other databases.
We once again thank the authors for their contributions and hope that there will be more and better research studies in this area.
Footnotes
(RE: Dong Y, Zhang Y, Song K, Kang H, Ye D, Li F. What was the epidemiology and global burden of disease of hip fractures from 1990 to 2019? Results from and additional analysis of the global burden of disease study 2019. Clin Orthop Relat Res. Published online November 2, 2022. DOI: 10.1097/CORR.0000000000002465.)
Each author certifies that there are no funding or commercial associations (consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article related to the author or any immediate family members.
All ICMJE Conflict of Interest Forms for authors and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research® editors and board members are on file with the publication and can be viewed on request.
The opinions expressed are those of the writer, and do not reflect the opinion or policy of CORR® or The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons®.
References
- 1.Dong Y, Zhang Y, Song K, Kang H, Ye D, Li F. What was the epidemiology and global burden of disease of hip fractures from 1990 to 2019? Results from and additional analysis of the global burden of disease study 2019. Clin Orthop Relat Res. Published online November 2, 2022. DOI: 10.1097/CORR.0000000000002465. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.GBD 2019 Fracture Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of bone fractures in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2021;2:e580-e592. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]