Oxford Hip Score

Questionnaire on the perceptions of patients about total hip replacement

Dawson J, Fitzpatrick R, Carr A, et al. The Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume 1996 · PMID 8666621

Question

Can a short patient-completed questionnaire validly and reliably measure outcome after total hip replacement?

Design

Prospective development and validation study of a 12-item questionnaire in patients undergoing hip replacement in Oxford.

Patients

Patients undergoing primary total hip replacement for arthritis.

Intervention

12-item Oxford Hip Score (pain and function)

Comparison

Existing generic and clinician-based measures (e.g. SF-36, Charnley)

Primary outcome

Reliability, validity and responsiveness of the questionnaire

Key result

The 12-item questionnaire was reliable, correlated with established measures and was responsive to change after surgery, supporting its use as a joint-specific patient-reported outcome.

Limitations

Developed in a single centre; ceiling effects and the later change of scoring from 12-60 (worse) to 0-48 (better) cause confusion when comparing studies.

Impact on practice

The OHS is the hip PROM used in the national NHS PROMs programme and the NJR, and is the standard outcome in UK hip trials.