A study of the reality of daily life among patients with osteoarthritis of the hip undergoing conservative treatment

SummaryIn Japan, osteoarthritis of the hip secondary to acetabular hypoplasia has a high prevalence. For long periods of their life, patients receive conservative treatment, but so far no survey has been done. Because the progression of the symptoms is slow with gradually increased pain and increased limitation of the range of motion during 10–30 years, the disease is characterized by its long-term course after the diagnosis is established. Three hundred and thirty patients receiving conservative treatment were assessed to describe the reality of the patients experiencing difficulty in their activities of daily life. The 30 items in five domains were focused on whether the patients felt that the contents of the items were difficult in their daily life. For many of the items, severity of disease was found to be correlated to level of difficulty in daily life for patients with OA in either one or both hips.