Racial and gender variations in adult hip morphology

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics and Anthropology
• Radiological assessment of skeletal morphology

Background:

• Hip dysplasia prevalence varies across different populations.
• Understanding population-specific hip morphology is crucial for clinical assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the morphological characteristics of the adult hip in the Malawian population.
• To compare hip morphology between genders and with other racial groups.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of pelvic X-rays from 99 adult Malawian patients (198 hips).
• Measurement of key hip morphology parameters: Wiberg's centre edge angle, Sharp's acetabular angle, and acetabular head index.
• Statistical comparison of parameters between genders and with published data from Japanese and British populations.

Main Results:

• Women in the Malawian cohort displayed higher degrees of hip dysplasia compared to men.
• A statistically significant gender difference (p<0.05) was observed for Sharp's acetabular angle.
• Malawian hips exhibited less dysplasia than Japanese and British hips, with Japanese hips showing the highest dysplasia.

Conclusions:

• Significant gender-based differences in hip dysplasia exist within the Malawian population.
• Malawians demonstrate a lower prevalence of hip dysplasia compared to Japanese and British populations.
• Findings highlight the influence of ethnicity and gender on adult hip morphology.