Abnormality in hip socket and osteoarthritis

Older adults with a developmental abnormality of the hip socket that makes the joint unstable are more likely to develop osteoarthritis of the hip than unaffected people.Previous studies have proved that acetabular dysplasia, as the hip socket abnormality is called, is related to osteoarthritis, but there have been few forward-looking studies investigating this association. To investigate, researchers from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam followed 835 men and women 55 years of age or older for an average of 6-1/2 years. At an average of 65-1/2 years of age, 9.3 per cent of the subjects developed hip osteoarthritis, defined as a decrease in joint space width of 1 millimeter or more.

Subjects with the unstable hip condition had a 4.3 times greater risk of hip osteoarthritis than those without the condition. This was independent of other known risk factors such as age, sex and body mass index. However, the association tended to increase in females, by being involved in heavily demanding physical work and having a low BMI.Researchers estimate that in a younger population the association between acetabular dysplasia and osteoarthritis may be even higher.