Letters to the Editor - American Family Physician

February 15, 2007 Table of Contents

Letters to the Editor

Hip Protectors Ineffective at Preventing Hip Fractures

Am Fam Physician.�2007�Feb�15;75(4):472.

to the editor: The article “Management of Hip Fracture: The Family Physician's Role,”1 in American Family Physician, referenced a meta-analysis2 that purportedly showed “that hip protectors may help prevent hip fractures.”1 I stopped recommending these devices several years ago after reading a number of studies that did not support their use; I was hopeful that new data showed efficacy for what appears to be a nifty idea. When I looked up the supporting information, I was crestfallen to see a Cochrane publication2 concluding that there is no benefit from using the protectors—or so it seemed from my review of that publication.

BRUCE IPPEL, M.D.

4808 Viking Trail

New Castle, IN 47362

E-mail: ippel@hughes.net.

Author disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

REFERENCES

1. Rao �SS, Cherukuri �M. �Management of hip fracture: the family physician's role. �Am Fam Physician. �2006;73:2195–200.

2. Parker �MJ, Gillespie �WJ, Gillespie �LD. �Hip protectors for preventing hip fractures in older people. �Cochrane Database Syst Rev. �2005;(3):CD001255.

editor's note: This letter was sent to the authors of “Management of Hip Fracture: the Family Physician's Role,” who stated that they agreed with Dr. Ippel about the lack of clinically significant benefit from using hip protectors in nursing home residents.

�

Send letters to Kenneth W. Lin, MD, Associate Deputy Editor for AFP Online, e-mail: afplet@aafp.org, or 11400 Tomahawk Creek Pkwy., Leawood, KS 66211-2680.

Please include your complete address, e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number. Letters should be fewer than 500 words and limited to six references, one table or figure, and three authors.

Letters submitted for publication in AFP must not be submitted to any other publication. Possible conflicts of interest must be disclosed at time of submission. Submission of a letter will be construed as granting the American Academy of Family Physicians permission to publish the letter in any of its publications in any form. The editors may edit letters to meet style and space requirements.

Copyright � 2007 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP. Contact afpserv@aafp.org for copyright questions and/or permission requests.