Societies are facing challenges as the public health burden increases in tandem with population aging. Local information systems are needed that would allow a continuous monitoring of the incidence and effectiveness of treatments. This study investigates the possibilities of routinely collected administrative data as a data source for hip fracture incidence monitoring in Finland.

The study demonstrates that a straightforward use of register data results in biased estimates for the numbers of hip fractures. An interpretation of hip fractures from the population aging point of view offers an alternative perspective for hip fracture incidence calculation. This enables development of a generalizable method for probabilistic detection of starting points of hip fracture care episodes. Several risk factor and risk population extraction techniques required in register-based data analyses are also demonstrated. Finally, it is shown that empirical evidence suggests that hip fracture incidence is proportional to population level disability prevalence.

In conclusion, Finnish administrative data makes it possible to derive data for rather detailed population level risk factor stratification. Certain limitations of register-based data can be partly avoided by synthesizing data-sensitive methodological solutions during the analysis process.