Patient-Reported Outcomes and Survivorship Are Not Different for Primary Hip Arthroscopy Patients of Age 50 Years and Older Compared to a 20 to 35 Years Old Matched Cohort at Minimum Five-Year Follow-Up.

PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to assess clinical outcomes among patients aged 50 years or older following primary hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) with or without labral tears compared to a matched control group of younger patients aged 20-35 years old at minimum five-year follow-up.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective comparative prognostic study using a prospectively collected database of hip arthroscopy patients with minimum five-year follow-up. Subjects completed the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS) and Non-Arthritic Hip Score (NAHS) prior to surgery and at five-year follow-up. Patients aged ≥50 years were propensity score matched on sex, BMI, and preoperative mHHS to controls aged 20-35 years. Pre-to-postoperative changes in mHHS and NAHS were compared between groups using Mann-Whitney U test. Hip survivorship rates and minimum clinically-important difference (MCID) achievement rates were compared between groups using Fisher's exact test. P-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: 35 older patients (mean age 58.3 years) were matched to 35 younger controls (mean age 29.2 years). Both groups were mostly female (65.7%) and had equal mean BMI (26.0 kg/m2 ). Acetabular chondral lesions of Outerbridge grades III-IV were more prevalent in the older group (older 28.6% vs. younger 0%, p < 0.001). Five-year reoperation rates were not significantly different between the groups (older 8.6% vs. younger 2.9%, p = 0.61). There were no significant inter-group differences in five-year improvement in mHHS (older 32.7 vs. younger 30.6, p = 0.46) or NAHS (older 34.4 vs. younger 37.9, p = 0.70) or in five-year MCID achievement rates for the mHHS (older 93.6% vs. younger 93.6%, p = 1.00) or NAHS (older 87.1% vs. younger 96.8%, p = 0.35).

CONCLUSION: There are no significant differences in reoperation rates and patient-reported outcomes between patients aged ≥50 years versus matched controls aged 20-35 years following primary hip arthroscopy for FAI.