Common hip conditions requiring primary total hip arthroplasty and comparison of their post-operative functional outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Primary osteoarthritis of hip has been widely reported to be the leading cause for total hip replacement (THR) in the world. The other common causes are avascular necrosis of hip, inflammatory diseases and trauma sequelae. We report the prevalence of these disease as studied retrospectively at a tertiary healthcare centre and discuss the common age groups and sex ratios of these patients as compared to the West. Additionally, we compare the outcomes of these surgeries based on the aetiologies for which they were done.

METHODOLOGY

Patients who underwent primary THR in our institute within six years were called and retrospectively analysed. Revision cases were excluded. All the surgeries were done by a single experienced arthroplasty surgeon. On follow ups, functional scores were assessed using standard Harris hip score (HHS) and quality of life scores were assessed using the Short musculoskeletal functional assessment (SMFA) score.

RESULTS

118 hips in 99 patients (M:F- 3.2:1) with a mean age group of 43.22 years, were operated over a period of six years. Non traumatic avascular necrosis (AVN) of hip topped the list in our study with 42.4% of cases, followed by post-traumatic sequelae (30.5%). These were followed subsequently by primary osteoarthritis (OA) (14.4%) and the remaining were inflammatory pathologies (IA). The HHS of patients with non traumatic AVN hip, traumatic sequelae and primary osteoarthritis were significantly superior to inflammatory arthritis with a p value of 0.001, 0.001 and 0.016 respectively. Additionally the short musculoskeletal functional assessment score was also significantly higher in IA than AVN, OA and post trauma groups (p = 0.001, 0.037 and 0.002 respectively); where a higher score denotes inferior outcomes.

CONCLUSION

In our part of the world, non traumatic AVN hip is the commonest indication for primary hip arthroplasty, followed by traumatic sequelae. The frequency of males undergoing hip arthroplasty is much more than females and at a younger age as compared to the West. Additionally, the functional outcomes in cases of inflammatory arthritis are inferior as compared to the other indications, probably because of associated contractures, deformity and spinal issues.