Acceptability and compliance with hip protectors in community-dwelling women at high risk of hip fracture

Objectives. To determine acceptability and compliance with hip protectors in women at high risk of hip fracture who are living independently in the community. Methods. Women aged 65 yr and over referred for open access bone densitometry who had femoral neck osteoporosis and a high risk of falling were asked to wear hip protectors. Results. Eighty five women fulfilled the inclusion criteria of whom 32 (38%) found the hip protectors acceptable and agreed to participate. Reasons given by the remaining 53 (62%) for not finding the hip protectors acceptable included discomfort on wearing, dislike of their personal appearance with the hip protectors on, and disagreement about their fracture risk. Participants were more likely to have a family history of osteoporosis (47 vs 26%, respectively) and hip fracture (16 vs 8%) compared with non-participants. At 12 months only about half of the subjects were wearing hip protectors daily. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that only a minority of community-dwelling women at high risk of hip fracture will wear hip protectors to reduce fracture risk. Their use should be restricted to highly motivated women who should be carefully identified.