[Risk factors of hip osteoarthritis in Lomé, Togo]

The medical records of the Lomé Teaching Hospital Rheumatology Unit (Togo) were retrospectively reviewed to study risk factors for osteoarthritis of hip. Among the 14,090 patients examined over a period of 17 years, 89 (0.63%) including 37 women and 52 men had osteoarthritis of the hip as defined according to the criteria of Kellgren and Lawrence. The mean duration of osteoarthritis of the hip was six years. Involvement was unilateral in 77 patients (86.5%) and bilateral in 12 (13.5%). Osteoarthritis of the hip was primary in 41 patients (46.1%) and secondary in 48 (53.9). Risk factors for secondary osteoarthritis of the hip were necrosis of the femoral head (n = 14), epiphysitis (n = 13), dysplasia (n = 11), traumatism (n = 6) including two femoral neck fractures, and tuberculosis of the hip joint (n = 2). In the 14 subjects with necrosis of the femoral head, hemoglobin was type SC in three cases and SS in two. Necrosis of the femoral head appears to be the main risk factor for osteoarthritis of the hip in black Africa. The impact of this risk factor may increase with longer life expectancies of subjects with hemoglobin SS and SC.