Introduction: The purposes of this study are to investigate the inter-relationship between Stulberg class and radiographic hip osteoarthritis (OA) in patients with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCP) and to determine whether LCP patients develop hip OA more often than sex- and age-matched individuals.

Material and Methods: 167 LCP patients presented to our institution from 1941 to 1962. All patients were treated conservatively by a Thomas splint. Retrospectively medical records and radiographs were retrieved.

At follow-up weight-bearing AP pelvis radiographs were obtained. OA was present when the minimum joint space width was < 2.0 mm. Radiographs of sex- and age-matched controls were obtained from The Copenhagen City Heart Study.

The following criteria for exclusion were applied:

insufficient or missing radiographs

52 patients (55 hips) were enrolled in the study and 115 patients (136 hips) were excluded. Mean age for men at follow-up was 53 years and for women 55 years.

Results: In the LCP group four hips of 50 hips had OA compared to one hip of 107 hips in the control group. One patient out of 41 in Stulberg class I/II had OA compared to three out of nine in Stulberg class III/IV/V.

Conclusion: LCP patients have a significant higher risk of having hip OA compared to a sex- and age-matched control group, p=0.04 [OR=8.5 (CI=0.8–428.8)]. Patients in Stulberg class III, IV or V have a significantly increases risk of hip OA compared to patients in Stulberg class I or II, p=0.03 [OR=13.7 (CI 1.9–97.1)].

Introduction: Poor long-time results in patients with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCP) are most often due to degenerative hip disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate if patients with LCP have an increased rate of total hip replacement (THR) compared to sex- and age-matched persons.

Material and Methods: 167 LCP patients presented to our institution from 1941 to 1962. All patients were treated conservatively by a Thomas splint. Retrospectively medical records and radiographs were retrieved. Data from the Danish Hip Replacement Register and the Registries of the National Board of Health were collected to get information regarding the number of the patients who had a THR.

Radiographs of sex- and age-matched controls for the follow-up group were obtained from The Copenhagen City Heart Study.

The following criteria for exclusion were applied

emigrated persons,

135 patients (156 hips) were enrolled in this study and 32 patients (35 hips) were excluded.

Results: 20 hips out of 156 hips in patients with LCP have had a THR. Mean age at operation for the women was 50 years and 44 years for the men. None of the sex- and age-matched persons have had a THR.

Conclusion: LCP patients had a significantly higher risk of THR surgery compared to sex- and age-matched control persons, (p< 0.00 [OR= 49.0 (CI 8.2-infinite)]).