Does failure to meet threshold scores for mHHS and iHOT-12 correlate to secondary operations following hip arthroscopy?

The purpose of this study was to determine (i) if failing to achieve a patient-reported outcome (PRO) threshold at 1 year was associated with secondary operations at minimum 2-year follow-up and (ii)what outcome measure and threshold has the highest association with future surgeries. Inclusion criteria for this study were cases of primary hip arthroscopy between July 2014 and April 2017. Included patients had recorded pre-operative and 1-year post-operative modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS) and 12-item international Hip Outcome Tool (iHOT-12) scores. Patients were classified based on their ability to achieve minimal clinical important difference (MCID), substantial clinical benefit (SCB) and patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) for each PRO and the status of secondary operations at minimum 2-year follow-up. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio for these thresholds were calculated. Of 425 eligible cases, 369 (86.8%) had minimum 2-year follow-up. Of the included patients, 28 underwent secondary operations (7.59%), with 14 undergoing secondary arthroscopies (3.79%) and 14 converting to total hip arthroplasty (3.79%). For mHHS, 267 (72.4%), 173 (46.9%) and 277 (75.1%) hips met MCID, SCB and PASS, respectively. For iHOT-12, 234 (63.4%), 218 (59.1%) and 280 (75.9%) hips met the respective thresholds. The highest specificity, sensitivity and accuracy were identified as for iHOT-12 MCID (0.79), iHOT-12 PASS (0.79) and iHOT-12 MCID (0.77), respectively. Patients not attaining MCID and PASS for mHHS and iHOT-12 at 1-year post-operatively are at increased risk of secondary operation. The most accurate threshold associated with secondary operation (0.77) is not achieving iHOT-12 MCID. Level of evidence: retrospective case series: level IV.