Simple Hip Value: a simple score to evaluate Hip function

Background

Several self-administered questionnaires are available for assessing hip function in clinical practice (HOOS-12, Oxford-12). These questionnaires can be used to assess and monitor patients with hip pathology. However, they are sometimes difficult to deploy in clinical practice. Recent studies on the shoulder and knee have shown that a single-question assessment provides a relevant evaluation of joint function, and correlates with more complex scores. However, this has not yet been evaluated for the hip. We set out to develop a single-question test that would enable patients to assess their hip function between 0 and 100. Therefore, we did a prospective study aiming to assess: (1) the relevance of the SHV (Simple Hip Value) test by comparing it with the Oxford-12 and HOOS-12 scores, (2) the discriminatory capacity and reproducibility of this test.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis of this study was that the assessment of hip function by a single-question patient-completed questionnaire (PROM) would be reliable and useful in clinical practice.

Patients and methods

We conducted a prospective study including 74 patients operated on for total hip arthroplasty from February 2020 to April 2021 in a high-volume center and 20 healthy subjects. The SHV questionnaire, as well as HOOS-12 and OXFORD-12 were submitted on average 18 months after surgery, with values scaled to 100 points. A second test containing the 3 questionnaires was resubmitted to 20 patients randomly chosen from hip arthroplasty group to evaluate the reproducibility of the test. To evaluate the discrimination capacity of our test, 20 controls were selected to respond to the three questionnaires.

Results

Test results were median SHV, Oxford-12 and HOOS-12 scores of 90/100 (Interquartile Range [IQR]: 80–95), 88.5 (IQR: 77.1–95.8) and 79.1 (IQR: 65.1–93.2), respectively. The SHV was strongly correlated with the Oxford-12 (Spearman coefficient: 0.63 [IQR: 0.45−0.76]) and the HOOS-12 (Spearman coefficient: 0.66 [IQR: 0.46−0.79]). The SHV differed significantly from the control group (90.0 vs 100.0 in the control group [p < 0.001]) and had excellent reproducibility (Interclass Correlation Coefficient [ICC]: ICC: 0.82 [CI95%, 0.59−0.93]).

Discussion

The SHV test seems to be a reliable, reproducible and discriminating tool for assessing hip function after total hip arthroplasty, thus offering a simplified and practical approach for practitioners. Further testing in different populations would be useful to validate this test.

Level of evidence

III; prospective comparative diagnostic study.