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If you have osteoarthritis of the hip, will you eventually need a hip replacement? X-rays and your degree of pain can help determine the odds. Osteoarthritis of the hip is disabling and not always a problem of older people. You can get it at a youngish age if there's a family history or you've damaged the joint in the past. One thing people with arthritis of the hip often want to know is whether they're likely eventually to need a hip replacement. Predictions such as these are tough to make yet could provide some reassurance. And for those who might progress, who knows, one day there might be medications which could slow the damage. A Dutch study followed nearly 2000 people aged over 55 to see what would best predict those who could expect their arthritis to get significantly worse. Over nearly seven years, they found that what counted most was the severity score on the X-rays and whether or not someone had significant hip pain. People with a high X-ray score and hip pain were about 24 times more likely to progress than people without these measures. Poor X-rays were linked to a six-fold raised risk. Common sense you might say, but it does mean that radiologists need to report these scores which they may not be doing at the moment.
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