Hip-Specific Patient-Reported Outcomes Strongly Correlate With Pain and Physical Function Metrics but not Mental Health Before and After Hip Arthroscopy for Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the relationships between hip-specific patient-reported outcomes (PROs) metrics and general health and pain measures before and after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS).

Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients undergoing hip arthroscopy for FAIS at a single institution from 2014 to 2025. PRO scores, including hip-specific scores of modified Harris hip score (mHHS) and Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS), as well as general health scores including 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12) physical and mental components and visual analog scale pain, were collected. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between hip-specific outcome scores and quality of life metrics across multiple pre- and postoperative time points.

Results: Six hundred sixty-eight patients (53.9% female) average age 34.3 years, body mass index 24.6, and mean follow-up 20.1 ± 14.0 months (range 3-60) were included. Both hip-specific PRO tools (HOOS and mHHS) showed at least strong-moderate, but mostly strong, correlations with both the visual analog scale pain scale and SF-12 physical component score preoperatively and at all time points postoperatively (Spearman's ρ range: -0.64 to -0.81, P < .01). The HOOS Total and mHHS had only poor or nonsignificant correlations with the SF-12 mental component score. At 1-, 2-, and 5-year follow-up after surgery, 75.3% to 81.6% of patients achieved minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for HOOS Total and 63.3% to 65.9% for mHHS. Furthermore, 61.4% to 73.5% of patients achieved MCID for SF-12 physical component score, whereas only 33.2% to 44.9% achieved MCID for SF-12 mental component score.

Conclusions: Hip-specific PRO scores have significant, strong correlations with both pain and physical function metrics before and after hip arthroscopy for FAIS. However, there was little to no correlation between hip-specific PROs and mental health metrics in this cohort.

Level of evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.