Perthes’ disease (PD) is a childhood hip disorder that can affect the quality of life in adulthood due to femoral head deformity and osteoarthritis. There is very little data on how PD patients function as adults, especially from the patients’ perspective. The purpose of this study was to collect treatment history, demographic details, the University of California, Los Angeles activity score (UCLA), the 36-Item Short Form survey (SF-36) score, and the Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome score (HOOS) of adults who had PD using a web-based survey method and to compare their outcomes to the outcomes from an age- and sex-matched normative population.

The English REDCap-based survey was made available on a PD study group website. The survey included childhood and adult PD history, UCLA, SF-36, and HOOS. Of the 1,182 participants who completed the survey, the 921 participants who did not have a total hip arthroplasty are the focus of this study. The mean age at survey was 38 years (SD 12) and the mean duration from age at PD onset to survey participation was 30.8 years (SD 12.6).

In comparison to a normative population, the PD participants had significantly lower HOOS scores across all five scales (p < 0.001) for all age groups. Similarly, SF-36 scores of the participants were significantly lower (p < 0.001) for all scales except for age groups > 55 years. Overall, females, obese participants, those who reported no treatment in childhood, and those with age of onset > 11 years had significantly worse SF-36 and HOOS scores. Pairwise correlations showed a strong positive correlation within HOOS scales and between HOOS scales and SF-36 scales, indicating construct validity.

Adult PD participants had significantly worse pain, physical, mental, and social health than an age- and sex-matched normative cohort. The study reveals a significant burden of disease on the adult participants of the survey, especially females.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2022;104-B(12):1304–1312.