Follow-up Appointment Attendance and Functional Outcomes After Hip Arthroscopy.

BACKGROUND

Scheduled follow-up (FU) appointments are a vital element of monitoring patient progress and outcomes. However, failure to attend FU appointments continues to be a regular problem in orthopaedics.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between FU appointment attendance and functional outcomes after hip arthroscopy.

STUDY

DESIGN

Cohort Study; Level of evidence, 3.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data was conducted in patients who underwent primary hip arthroscopy for symptomatic labral tears between 2014 and 2023. FU attendance after suture removal was used to categorize patients into 2 cohorts based on whether they attended all standard FU appointments (AA) or missed at least 1 FU appointment (MAO) at 3-, 6-, or 12-month intervals. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) included the modified Harris Hip Score, Nonarthritic Hip Score, Hip Outcome Score-Activities of Daily Living, HOS-Sports Specific Subscale, 33-item International Hip Outcome Tool, and patient satisfaction.

RESULTS

Overall, 178 hips (54.5% women) met the inclusion criteria, with 110 hips (mean age, 35.9 ± 10.6 years) in the AA cohort and 68 hips (mean age, 35.1 ± 11.8 years) in the MAO cohort. Both groups had similar radiographic and demographic characteristics, except for the distribution of Asian and White patients (18 vs 3 and 44 vs 100, respectively; P < .001). PROMs were statistically similar at all time points (P > .05). Multivariate linear regression model analyses showed no differences after adjusting for cohort, distance from clinic, sex, race, and age for all PROMs. Additionally, both cohorts achieved clinically meaningful outcomes (CMOs) at similar rates (P > .05).

CONCLUSION

Patients who missed at least 1 FU appointment achieved similar improvements in functional outcomes compared with those who attended all. Both cohorts achieved minimal clinically important difference, patient acceptable symptom score, and significant clinical benefit at comparably high rates. These findings suggest that functional outcomes are not associated with FU appointment attendance. Additionally, those who do not attend all of their postoperative FU appointments can still achieve CMOs.