What is the morbidity and mortality associated with rib fractures in the elderly?
In one study, patients aged 65 years and older with three or four rib fractures experienced a 19% mortality rate and 31% rate of pneumonia. Mortality and pneumonia rates increase with the number of rib fractures. For elderly patients with more than six rib fractures, the mortality and pneumonia rates increase to 33% and 51%, respectively. The occurrence of pneumonia is an independent predictor of early death. The high complication rate and cost in caring for elderly patients with three to six rib fractures is demonstrated in the dramatic increase in the number of ventilator days, intensive care unit days, and length of stay compared with younger patients with a similar severity of injury. While elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to the effects of blunt thoracic trauma, rib fracture morbidity begins to increase in patients as young as 45 years of age—significantly younger than generally appreciated. Holcomb and colleagues found that morbidity from rib fractures increases in pa
