RESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To analyse differences in the incidence of hip fracture in people older than 65 years in the 17 autonomous communities (AA. CC.) (regions) of the Spanish state in the 1997-2010 period. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ecological, observational and retrospective study that includes people≥65 year old who have suffered a hip fracture in Spain over 14 years. These records are taken from the minimum basic data set of patients treated in all hospitals of Spain. RESULTS: The analysis include 534,043 hip fractures in≥65 year olds (414,518 women and 119,525 men). A percentage of 85.4 of hip fractures occurred in people≥75 years (86.7% women; 80.7% men). The adjusted hip fracture rate/100,000/year was 722.6 in women and 284.8 in men. AA. CC. with women above the average of the country were 7, including Catalonia, Comunidad Valenciana and Castilla-La Mancha. Six AA. CC. had patients below the average, including Canary Islands and Galicia. In AA. CC. with highest and lowest adjusted hip fracture rate/100,000/year, the difference was 44% lower in women (Canary vs. Castilla-La Mancha) and 50% lower in men (Galicia vs. Catalonia). CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of the incidence of hip fracture in Spain in people≥65 year old shows a significant variability between AA. CC. Except in Canary Islands, this variability is difficult to explain only by factors such as population age, sun exposure or north-south gradient. Additional studies are needed to analyse the causes of these important differences between Spanish AA. CC.