Hybrid Hyaluronic Acid versus High Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid for the Treatment of Hip Osteoarthritis in Overweight/Obese Patients

Background: Obesity is the main risk factor for hip osteoarthritis, negatively affecting the outcome of the disease. We evaluated the effectiveness of viscosupplementation with hybrid hyaluronic acid compared to that with high molecular weight hyaluronic acid in overweight/obese patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: 80 patients were divided into two groups: a treatment group received two ultrasound-guided intra-articular hip injections of hybrid HA 15 days apart; a control group received a single ultrasound-guided infiltration with medium-high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (1500-2000 kDa). We assessed the pain, functional and cardiovascular capacity of the patients at baseline, after 3 months, and after 6 months of the infiltrative sessions. Results: The treatment group showed greater improvements in the scores on the NRS scale (5.4 +/- 0.8 vs. 6.3 +/- 0.8; p < 0.05) and in the Lequesne index (11.4 +/- 2.6 vs. 13.6 +/- 2.7; p < 0.05) and in the distance traveled at 6MWT (238.1 +/- 53.9 m vs. 210.7 +/- 46.2 m; p = 0.02) both at 3 months (T1) and at 6 months (T2). Conclusions: This study underlines the importance of exploiting the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and chondrogenic properties of hybrid HA for the treatment of hip OA in overweight/obese patients.