The following is a summary of “Comparing rates of skull fractures in female versus male geriatric patients who sustain head injuries,” published in the March 2023 issue of Emergency Medicine by Alter, et al.

Head injuries due to trauma are common among the elderly population and can cause skull fractures. Therefore, for a study, researchers sought to investigate the association between sex and the risk of skull fracture in patients aged 65 years and older.

During the study, they conducted a prospective cohort study at two level-one trauma centers that served 360,000 elderly residents. The study focused on consecutive patients 65 years and older who presented with blunt head injury over one year. Patients who did not undergo head CT imaging were excluded from the study. The study’s primary aim was to evaluate the rate of skull fracture in patients of different sexes due to acute trauma. They also analyzed other factors, such as the patient’s race/ethnicity and mechanism of injury.

Out of 5,402 patients who were enrolled in the study, 3,010 (56%) were female, and 2,392 (44%) were male. Most of the head injuries sustained were due to falls 4,612 (85%), and most patients were Caucasian 4,536 (90%). A total of 199 patients (3.7%) had skull fractures. The rate of skull fracture was significantly higher in males than in females (4.6% vs. 3.0%, with an odds ratio of 1.5 and a 95% CI of 1.2-2.1, P = 0.002). The trend was observed across different races/ethnicities and mechanisms of injury.

In conclusion, older males had a higher risk of skull fractures than females after suffering blunt head trauma, predominantly due to falls

Reference: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735675723000013