A Study on Imaging Risk Factors for Hip Osteoarthritis

Due to low prevalence and few studies, the morphologic risk factors for hip osteoarthritis (HOA) in Chinese population remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between 10 radiographic parameters measured via anteroposterior pelvic X-ray radiography and HOA in Chinese population.

Thirty-three patients who required total hip arthroplasty for unilateral HOA (2017-2022) and 132 healthy individuals were selected for this case-control study. We measured 10 radiological parameters via anteroposterior pelvic X-ray radiography, which were sharp angle, center edge angle, sourcil angle, neck shaft angle, α angle, pelvic height, pelvic width, femoral head diameter, femoral neck width, and ratio of the femoral head diameter to the femoral neck width. After measurements were obtained, logistic regression analysis was utilized to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for confounding variables such as age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were utilized to determine the proportional risk contribution (PRC) of each radiographic factor.

After adjustment for confounding factors, individuals with a larger sourcil angle (SA) (OR = 4.89, 95% CI 1.66-14.42, p = 0.004), larger α angle (OR = 4.14, 95% CI 1.53-11.23, p = 0.005), and wider femoral neck (OR = 5.27, 95% CI 1.50-18.51, p = 0.01) were found to have a greater risk of developing HOA. Among all radiographic parameters, the SA demonstrated the greatest risk contribution (PRC = 13.695%).

Radiographic parameters correlate with the incidence of HOA. The SA is probably the most powerful of all the parameters related to HOA.