Hip arthroscopy in obese, a successful combination?

Discussion persists about the outcome and results of hip arthroscopy in obese patients. Hip arthroscopy gained popularity over time. A current discussion is if obese patients can reach similar results after surgery compared with non-obese. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review of literature about hip arthroscopy and obesity. We searched the Pubmed/Medline databases for literature and included three studies that compared the outcome of hip arthroscopy between different BMI groups. We extracted and pooled the data. For continues data a weighted mean difference was calculated, for dichotomous variables a weighted odds ratio (OR) was calculated using Review Software Manager. Heterogeneity of the included studies was calculated using I 2 statistics. Data were extracted from two studies. In the Obese group, there was significant more conversion to total hip replacement or resurfacing hip replacement (OR = 2.21, 95% CI 1.07-4.56) and more re-arthroscopy (OR = 4.68, 95% CI 1.41-15.45). Any reoperation occurred more often in the obese group (OR = 2.87, 95% CI 1.53-5.38). In the Non Arthritic Hip Score obese scored lower than the non-Obese group [10.9 (-14,6 to 7.1)]. For the modified Harris Hip Score the score is -6,6, according to the MCID this difference is clinically relevant. For both scores obese show lower outcomes but similar improvement after hip arthroscopy. Regarding a higher chance of needing a re-operation and lower subjective outcome scores obesity appears to have a negative influence on the outcome of hip arthroscopy.