[Regional differences in the incidence of femoral neck fractures in Norway].

Studies reporting data from the late seventies indicated there were significant differences in the incidence of hip fracture from county to county in Norway. We used the most recent available data on the occurrence of hip fracture in 1994 and 1995 and analyzed regional variations in the incidence of hip fracture, standardized for age and sex, among people aged 65 years and over. In 1994 and 1995 16,779 hip fractures occurred in Norway among people aged 65 years and over, making an overall annual crude incidence rate of 12.1 per 1,000 population. Incidence rates varied from 8.1 for the county of Finnmark to 14.9 per 1,000 population for Oslo. Standardized rates per 1,000 aged 65 years and over varied from 9.2 in the county of Finnmark to 15.0 in Vestfold. There has been a clear regional pattern in the incidence rate. Oslo and the counties in the south and south-east had the highest incidence rate. Compared with reports from 1978 and 1979, the span of relative differences in the county incidence rates has narrowed. The sources of these differences are not explained.