Introduction Falls with fractures in elderly people are common situations. Wrist and hip fractures are the most common or severe respectively. The goal of this study was to determine the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) evolution, and which clinical and social factors predict its change after those fractures, by measuring HRQoL by the SF-12 questionnaire.

Methods Patients older than 65 years who attended the emergency room (ER) of seven acute hospitals with a hip or wrist fracture due to a fortuity fall were recruited. Patients fulfilled the SF-12 questionnaire at the time of the fall, as how they were before the fall, and 6 months later, as well as some other questions on sociodemographic issues. Clinical parameters from the ER and admission to the hospital were also recorded. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis were performed, considering the changes on the physical component score (PCS) domain of the SF-12 as dependent variable.

Results Analysis of our data with a recruitment of 343 hip and 412 wrist fracture patients showed an important decline in PCS (hip:10.8; wrist:8.9) at 6 months after the fracture. Older patients and lower socioeconomic status were those with greater worsening on PCS on hip fracture, after adjusting by baseline scores. On wrist fractures, older patients, women and not having social support were predictors of greater worsening.

Conclusion HRQoL physical changes in hip fractures were not influenced by socio-sanitary services while in wrist fractures social support provided benefit while it was found gender differences.