Restoring native hip anatomy and biomechanics is important to create a well-functioning total hip arthroplasty (THA). Hip offset and leg length are regarded as the most important biomechanical characteristics. This study investigated their association with clinical outcomes including patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and functional tests. This prospective cohort study was conducted in 77 patients undergoing primary THA (age=65±11 years). Hip offset and leg length were measured on anteroposterior radiographs of the hip pre- and postoperatively. Participants completed the Western Ontario & McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and performed functional tests (i.e. gait, single leg stance, sit-to-stand, block step-up) preoperatively, and 3 and 12 months postoperatively. A wearable motion sensor was used to derive biomechanical parameters. Associations between radiographic and functional outcomes were investigated with the Spearman's rho correlation coefficient. Subgroup comparisons were conducted for patients with more than 15% decreased or increased femoral offset after THA. Differences in postoperative offset and leg length had little impact on clinical outcomes. Femoral offset subgroups demonstrated no significantly different WOMAC function scores. In functional tests, patients with >15% decreased femoral offset after THA demonstrated more sagittal plane motion during block step-up (14.43° versus 10.66°; p=0.04) while patients with >15% increased femoral after THA demonstrated more asymmetry of frontal plane motion during block step-up (34.05% versus 14.18%; p=0.03). To create a well-functioning THA, there seems to be a reasonable safe zone regarding the reconstruction of offset and leg length.

Physical functioning in patients undergoing hip surgery is commonly assessed in three ways: patient-reported outcome measure (PROM), performance test, or clinician-administered measure. It is recommended that several types of measures are used concurrently to capture an extended picture of function. Patient fatigue and burden, time, resources and logistical constraints of clinic and research appointments mean that collecting multiple measures is seldom feasible, leading to focus on a limited number of measures, if not a single one. While there is evidence that performance-tests and PROMs do not fully correlate, correlations between PROMs, performance tests and clinician-administrated measures are yet to be evaluated. It is also not known if the associations between function and patient characteristics depend on how function is measured. The aim of our study was to use different measures to assess function in the same group of patients before their hip surgery to determine 1. how well PROMs, performance tests and clinician-administrated measures correlate with one another and 2. Whether these measures are associated with the same patient characteristics.

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the pre-operative information of 125 participants listed for hip replacement. The WOMAC function subscale, Harris Hip Score (HHS) and walk-, step- and balance-tests were assessed by questionnaire or during a clinic visit. Participant socio-demographics and medical characteristics were also collected. Correlations between functional measures were investigated with correlation coefficients (r). Regression models were used to test the association between the patient's characteristics and each of the three types of functional measures.

None of the correlations between the PROM, clinician-administrated measure and performance tests were very high (r<0.90). The highest correlations were found between the WOMAC-function and the HHS (r=0.7) or the Walk-test (r=0.6), and between the HHS and the walk-test(r=0.7). All the other performance-tests had low correlations with the other measures(r ranging between 0.3 and 0.5).

The associations between patient characteristics and functional scores varied by type of measure. Psychological status was associated with the WOMAC function (p-value<0.0001) but not with the other measures. Age was associated with the performance test measures (p-value ranging from ≤0.01 to <0.0001) but not with the WOMAC function. The clinician-administered (HHS) measure was not associated with age or psychological status.

When evaluating function prior to hip replacement clinicians and researchers should be aware that each assessment tool captures different aspects of function and that patient characteristics should be taken into account. Psychological status influences the perception of function; patients may be able to do more than they think they can do, and may need encouragement to overcome anxiety. A performance test like a walk-test would provide a more comprehensive assessment of function limitations than a step or balance test, although performance tests are influenced by age.

For the most precise description of functional status a combination of measures should be used. Clinicians should supplement their pre-surgery assessment of function with patient-reported measure to include the patient's perspective.