Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hvidovre University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Correspondence to: S. Jacobsen, Baneledet 17, DK-2830 Virum, Denmark. E-mail: sjac{at}dadlnet.dk
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Abstract |
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Methods. Standardized, weight-bearing pelvic radiographs were evaluated. Radiological hip joint OA was defined as minimum joint space width (JSW) 2.0 mm. Hip dysplasia was evaluated according to common radiographic indices. Radiographic findings were correlated to general health and lifestyle information obtained at baseline examinations and questionnaires. The study focused on age; self-reported hip pain, occupational exposure to repeated daily lifting, body mass index, smoking and hip dysplasia.
Results. Hip dysplasia (HD) prevalence ranged from 5.412.8% depending on the radiographic index applied. Hip OA prevalence was 1.02.5% in subjects <60 yr of age and 4.45.3% in subjects 60 yr of age. Of factors entered into logistic regression analyses, only age (P<0.001 for right hips and P<0.001 for left hips) and hip dysplasia (P<0.001 for right hips and P = 0.004 for left hips) were significantly associated with hip OA prevalence in women. In men, only hip dysplasia was associated with hip OA prevalence, P<0.001 in right hips and P = 0.001 in left hips.
Conclusions. Of the individual risk factors investigated in this study, only age and hip dysplasia were associated with the development of hip osteoarthritis.
KEY WORDS: Hip, Hip dysplasia, Osteoarthritis, Epidemiology of osteoarthritis
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Introduction |
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We have investigated the influence of individual risk factors on the prevalence of hip OA in this cross-sectional survey of 4151 participants of the Third Copenhagen City Heart Study: The Osteoarthritis Substudy Cohort. The survey focused on hip dysplasia, body mass index, smoking and occupational exposure to repeated daily lifting.
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Material and methods |
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From 1991 to 1994 antero-posterior (AP) pelvic and lateral lumbar spine radiographs were recorded in 1533 men with an average age of 65 yr (range 2291 yr) and 2618 women with an average age of 65 yr (range 2090 yr). Radiographs were obtained standing: with the feet pointed straight forward, the lower extremities were positioned in neutral abductionadduction along the functional axis of the lower extremity. In AP pelvic radiographs the X-ray beam was centred two finger breadths over the symphysis pubis in the vertical midline. The X-ray beam in lateral lumbar spine radiographs was centred at the apical midpoint of the iliac crest. The tube to film distance was 120 cm in all cases. Two radiography technicians obtained all the radiographs.
Radiographic parameters of hip OA
Minimum joint space width (JSW) was measured at three locations: (1) at the lateral margin of the subchondral sclerotic line (the sourcil), (2) at the apical transection of the weight-bearing surface by a vertical line through the centre of the femoral head and (3) at the medial margin of the weight-bearing surface bordering on the fovea, or as a fourth measurement if minimum JSW was found outside the three standard locations of measurements (Fig. 1). Minimum JSW was selected as the smallest of these three measurements. One observer (SJ) performed all measurements using a 0.1 mm graded magnifying glass (Peak, Japan).
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Radiographic parameters of hip dysplasia
Acetabular morphology was assessed by the acetabular depth ratio (ADR) as defined by Stulberg and Harris [3] and Cooperman et al. [7] (cut-off value for definite dysplasia set at 250
) [3, 7]. Containment of the femoral head was assessed by Wiberg's [2] centre-edge (CE) angle (pathological cut-off value set at
20°) and Heyman and Herndon's [8] femoral head extrusion index (FHEI) (cut-off value set at
25%) (Fig. 2ac). The cut-off values were defined in accordance with the authors recommendations. The lateral margin of the sourcil was used to designate the lateral acetabular rim in relevant measurements. Shenton's line was evaluated. Pelvic rotation during X-ray recording was assessed using Tönnis foramen obturator index (FOI), in which maximum horizontal width of the right obturator foramen was divided by left obturator foramen width [9]. All measurements of the radiological parameters of hip dysplasia were performed by a single reader (SJ).
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Assessment of hip pain
At the baseline examination subjects were asked the following questions: (1) Have you experienced recurrent hip pain during the last 12 months? and (2) Have you experienced frequent and recurrent deep pain in the groin during the last 12 months? In a prior study of the relationship between self-reported pain in or around the hip joint and joint space narrowing, the authors found good correlation between hip pain and groin pain and JSW narrowing. In an earlier study we found a significant relationship between self-reported hip pain and radiological hip OA [10]. No statement on laterality or bilaterality was obtained.
Smoking
The CCHS III questionnaire recorded the smoking habits of the participants. We have chosen the following questions from the CCHS III questionnaire regarding smoking: (1) How many years of smoking? and (2) How many cigarettes a day? In this study we decided to omit cigar or pipe smokers because they constituted an insignificant proportion of smokers. As the numerical unit we have used package-years, i.e. the number of years smoking one pack of cigarettes (20 cigarettes) a day.
Exclusion criteria for radiographs
In a cadaver study we have found that extreme pelvic rotation and inclination/reclination had significant influence on the radiographic morphometry of hip dysplasia and measurements of minimum JSW [11]. To stay inside ±3° of error of measurements of the CE angle, FOI inclusion limits of 0.71.8 were applied to radiographs. Furthermore, radiographs with pelvic inclinations outside 2 S.D. of the mean were omitted from the study. Median pelvic inclination was 38° (082°), and 1 S.D. was 9.4°, according to lateral lumbar spine radiographs. Inclusion limits of pelvic inclination thus ranged from 19 to 56°. Furthermore, radiographs in which measurements were inaccurate due to obesity were omitted.
Exclusion criteria for subjects
The following exclusion criteria were applied: (1) former hip surgery of any hip, (2) former fractures of any hip, (3) former treatment of childhood hip disorders and (4) a history of inflammatory arthritis of any joint.
Reproducibility
Intra-observer reproducibility of measurements of JSW and parameters of dysplasia was assessed by blinded rereading of a subset of 50 radiographs 4 weeks after the first reading (SJ), using intra-class coefficients.
Statistical analysis
The chosen critical limit of minimum JSW at 2.0 mm designating definite hip OA was tested for its ability to explain self-reported hip and groin pain by
2 analyses. The association between hip dysplasia and self-reported pain was assessed by
2 analyses. Continuous variables such as age, BMI, package-years of smoking and years of exposure to different levels of repeated daily lifting were tested against significantly reduced minimum JSW (
2.0 mm) by multiple regression analyses. In simple calculations a significance level of P<0.05 was employed. In multiple regression analyses, the significance level was adjusted to P<0.005 (Bonferroni's adjustment). Sex-related differences in radiological or physical parameters were investigated by independent samples t-tests and
2 tests with odds ratios. All statistical analyses were performed with the SPSS 12.0 statistical software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).
At the initialization of the survey general acceptance was made by the Ethical Committee of Copenhagen for the conduction of the work. Informed patient consent was obtained from each participant in the study.
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Results |
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Prevalence of hip OA and hip dysplasia
Prevalence of hip OA and hip dysplasia according to pre-defined criteria are summarized in Table 2. Mean minimum JSW was 3.65 mm (S.D. = 0.91 mm) in men and 3.56 mm (S.D. = 0.81 mm) in women. The difference in minimum JSW was statistically significant (P = 0.004). The mean CE angle was 34.6° (S.D. = 7.7°) in both sexes. There were no cases of hip subluxation in the material (broken Shenton's line >5 mm).
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In this cross-sectional analysis we found neither positive nor adverse effects of occupational exposure to repeated lifting, BMI or smoking on the prevalence of hip OA in either sex.
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Discussion |
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Epidemiological studies have documented that ageing is the cardinal risk factor for incident OA. However, while the incidence of OA before the age of 50 is lower among women than among men, it increases progressively in women after the menopause, and remains relatively unaltered among men after the fifth decade of life [12]. This suggests that a decrease in gonadal steroids in post-menopausal women plays a role in the development of OA [13]. In asymptomatic subjects Lanyon et al. [6] found that minimum hip JSW progressively decreased in post-menopausal women, while it remained relatively unaltered in men throughout life. We also found a progressive decrease in mean minimum hip JSW after the fifth decade of life in female study subjects as opposed to male study objects where minimum JSW remained relatively unaltered throughout life. In this survey we had no opportunity to investigate the influence of oral contraception or post-menopausal hormone replacement therapy on the prevalence of radiological hip OA among women, which is a noteworthy limitation of the study and the results presented.
Since Wiberg's 1939 thesis on the subject [2], hip dysplasia (HD) has been assumed to be a pre-osteoarthritic condition leading to premature radiological hip OA. In vivo and in vitro studies have documented that the reduction in load-transferring areas in dysplastic hips may lead to degeneration. While premature hip osteoarthritis (OA) invariably seems to develop in subluxated hips, the extent and rate at which degeneration develops in moderately dysplastic hips is not defined. Only few longitudinal, and no case-controlled, studies exist [7, 1416].
The cross-sectional epidemiology on the subject is contradictory; lacking consensus definitions of dysplastic morphology and radiological OA, and qualified estimates of the background prevalence of HD. Several studies are based on pelvic radiographs obtained for other purposes, i.e. urograms or colon radiographs with little or no information on recording techniques [1720]. Hip OA grading has mostly been performed by using the composite radiological classifications of Kellgren and Lawrence or the revision by Croft [21, 22]. Both classifications seem to have limited application to the hip joint. Kellgren and Lawrence's classification has the implicit notion of a chronological sequence of degeneration attached: joint space narrowing leads to osteophytes, which lead to subchondral sclerosis, and so forth. This sequence has not been evidenced in the literature, to our knowledge. The OA classification of Croft does not have a certain chronology attached, which is a distinct advantage. However, Croft's classification is based solely on male urograms, thereby emphasizing formations of osteophytes and subchondral sclerosis, which is more frequently encountered in male hips, rather than joint space narrowing, which is progressively more marked in female hips after the fifth decade of life [23]. Applying Croft's radiological discriminator, one runs the risk of inflating male hip OA prevalence, and underestimating female hip OA prevalence. The terminology regarding joint space narrowing of both classifications is inaccurate, using terms such as marked or gross and pre-supposes a knowledge of the normal distribution of hip joint space width in asymptomatic subjects. This knowledge has just recently been forthcoming [6]. Finally, inter- and intra-rater reproducibility of composite readings seems to be inferior to repeated readings of individual features of OA, notably minimum JSW [2427].
In this study we found that the prevalence of mild to moderate hip dysplasia was higher than expected, ranging from 5.4 to 12.6% depending on the radiographic index applied, and that the presence of hip dysplasia did in fact influence hip OA prevalence significantly.
In a recent study, Birrell et al. [28] reported a prevalence of acetabular dysplasia of 30% in 195 patients presenting with new episodes of hip pain at their GP, but with no significant relationship between dysplasia and radiological OA. The authors termed the condition: the syndrome of symptomatic adult acetabular dysplasia or SAAD. In the present study we found a significant association between self-reported hip and groin pain and radiological hip OA (as defined by minimum JSW 2.0 mm) in both sexes. Although unilaterality or bilaterality of self-reported hip pain was unfortunately not registered at the baseline examination, which would have been much preferred, we have investigated the association between pain and reduced JSW in various combinations of unilaterality and bilaterality of healthy and degenerated hips. Unlike Birrell et al. we did not find consistent associations between hip dysplasia and self-reported hip or groin pain in either sex. It is notoriously difficult to correlate self-reported sensations of pain in or around the hip joint with actual radiological evidence of degeneration, no matter how advanced the questionnaires might be. In this study no fewer than 30% of women and 23.1% of men complained of hip pain, and 14% of women and 13% of men complained of groin pain, while actual radiological hip OA prevalence is 57% in this and other epidemiological studies. In a recent longitudinal case-controlled study we followed 81 subjects (27 men/54 women) with mild to moderate hip dysplasia but without radiological hip OA at admission (CE 620°) and 136 control subjects with normal hips for 10 yr to monitor rates of JSW narrowing. We found no differences in self-reported hip, gluteal and groin pain between controls and subjects with dysplasia [29].
An association between being overweight and hip OA has not been thought to be as important as in knee OA. However, some studies suggest a significant relationship between overweight and symptomatic hip OA. Vingård [30] found significantly increased odds ratios for development of end-stage hip OA among 239 men, if BMI>mean BMI + 1 S.D. Adjusted odds ratios varied between 1.67 (95% CI 0.902.97) and 2.49 (95% CI 1.394.47). Oliveira et al. [31] found significant correlations between incident, symptomatic hip OA and overweight in 134 matched casecontrol pairs of women aged 2079 yr. The authors calculated an odds ratio of 3.4 (95% CI 0.425.6) for women having a BMI between 23.91 and 27.8 kg/m2.
Marks and Allegrante [32] found BMIs in the overweight and obese range in 70% of 586 females and 435 males requiring total hip replacements for end-stage hip OA. The authors found that the percentage of overweight or obese subjects with end-stage hip OA was higher than the values reported in the adult population generally, but do not state whether the difference was statistically significant. The study design did not permit conclusions about whether overweight antedated hip OA [32]. Cooper et al. [33] reported a definitive positive relationship of increasing BMI to hip OA in a case control study of 611 patients listed for total hip replacement compared with an equal number of age- and sex-matched subjects. The correlation was positive regardless of gender. Odds ratios were adjusted for individual risk covariates and were 1.9 (95% CI 1.13.3) for men with BMI 28 kg/m2 and 1.7 (95% CI 1.22.4) for women with BMI
28 kg/m2 [33]. In this study, we found no significant influence on hip OA prevalence by increasing BMI.
The possible causal relationship between heavy physical workloads over prolonged periods of time and the development of hip OA has been the focus of many studies, but women are virtually absent in the studies. In one of the best-executed studies of occupational lifting and hip OA, Coggon et al. [34] found no association among women, but an association in men. In this study we did not find that occupational exposure to varying levels of repeated daily lifting influenced radiological hip OA prevalence in either sex.
The Framingham Osteoarthritis Study has demonstrated a modest but significant inverse relationship of cigarette smoking to knee OA [35]. The model has not been evaluated in regard to hip OA in any major surveys, to our knowledge. We found no positive or adverse effects of cigarette smoking on the prevalence of hip OA in women.
Of the well-known risk factors for the development of hip OA, this study only documented significant relationships between age and hip dysplasia and radiological hip OA in 1336 men and 2232 women of the Copenhagen City Osteoarthritis Substudy.
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Acknowledgments |
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The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
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References |
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