Effect of alcohol consumption on patient-reported outcomes in hip arthroscopy: a matched controlled study with minimum 2-year follow-up.

INTRODUCTION: There is a paucity of literature examining the effects of alcohol consumption on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) after hip arthroscopy. The purpose of this study was to report 2-year outcomes of hip arthroscopy in patients who consume alcohol compared to patients who abstain.

METHODS: Registry data were prospectively collected and retrospectively reviewed to identify heavy drinkers at the time of primary hip arthroscopy. Patients were matched 1:1 (heavy drinkers:non-drinkers) based on age, sex, BMI, acetabular Outerbridge grade, and capsular treatment. All patients were assessed with 4 validated PROs: mHHS, NAHS, HOS-SSS, and iHOT-12. Pain was estimated with VAS.

RESULTS: 42 patients were pair matched in each group (heavy drinkers:non-drinkers). Both groups demonstrated significant improvement for all PROs and VAS. Heavy drinkers reported lesser improvement in HOS-SSS ( p = 0.0169), smaller decrease in VAS ( p = 0.0157), and lower final scores on iHOT-12 ( p = 0.0302), SF-12 mental ( p = 0.0086), and VR-12 mental ( p = 0.0151). Significantly fewer patients in the heavy-drinking group reached PASS for mHHS ( p = 0.0464). Odds of achieving PASS for mHHS was 2.5 times higher for patients who abstain from alcohol. The rates of revision hip arthroscopy and conversion to total hip arthroplasty were not statistically different between groups.

CONCLUSION: While hip arthroscopy may still yield clinical benefit in drinkers, patients who consume heavy amounts of alcohol may ultimately achieve an inferior functional status and should be counselled on drinking cessation to optimise their results.